EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Departmental Expenditure

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Department spent on lawyers in each year since 1997; how many (a) actions, (b) settlements and (c) court cases there were in each year and what the costs of each settlement were.

Derek Twigg: The Department incurred the following costs in each financial year since 1997.
	
		
			 Financial year Total cost (£) Number of files worked on by TSD 
		
		
			 1997–98 498,845.38 121 
			 1998–99 344,390.88 137 
			 1999–2000 387,257.75 145 
			 2000–01 483,178.68 135 
			 2001–02 459,860.26 177 
			 2002–03 476,280.71 188 
			 2003–04 705,108.26 192 
			 2004–05(1) 687,098.83 132 
		
	
	(1) To December 2004.
	The column headed "Total cost" shows the total annual cost to the Department of services relating to litigation in courts and tribunals (including services which did not result in the issue of proceedings).
	The Treasury Solicitor's Department's charges for services relating to litigation (which form by far the greatest part of the annual total) include the cost of (a) lawyers (including solicitors and counsel) and other staff, (b) services and disbursements not attributable to the cost of lawyers (such as court fees) and (c) for the years up to 2001–02, costs and damages paid to other parties in litigation by the Department.
	The column headed "No. of files worked on by TSD" shows the number of "files" worked on by the Treasury Solicitor's Department in each year. On receipt of instructions from the Department, a "file" is opened by the Treasury Solicitor's Department to provide a reference for billing purposes. Such a "file" will usually correspond with a court case (or action), but this is not always so. For example, a number of cases may be dealt with under one "file" reference; or there may be a "file" for a claim which is resolved before the issue of court proceedings. Many of the "files" will have been worked on in more than one year. If so, the "file" is included in each of the relevant years.
	A breakdown of this information to give details of the number of cases, how many of these were settled or proceeded to a full hearing, and the legal costs of each case on an annual basis could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	The Department's own lawyers do not conduct any litigation on behalf of the Department. The costs to the Department of their services have been disregarded in this answer.

Departmental Files

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is the policy of the Department to retain for the benefit of future (a) historians and (b) applicants under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the same (i) complete categories of files, (ii) numbers of files and (iii) representative examples of files from categories of files destroyed as had been preserved prior to the passage of that Act.

Stephen Twigg: In accordance with the Public Records Act 1958 S.3, the selection of records of enduring historical value for permanent preservation at The National Archives (TNA) will continue to take place in Department for Education and Skills under the guidance and supervision of TNA staff. The Department will also comply with the Code of Practice on Records Management, issued by the Lord Chancellor under S.46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which underlines the importance of having clear selection policies and disposal schedules in place.

Departmental Files

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many departmental files have been destroyed in each of the past five years;
	(2)  when she will reply to the question tabled on 3 December 2004, by the hon. Member for New Forest East, ref 203329.

Derek Twigg: In accordance with its selection policies and disposal schedules, the Department for Education and Skills has destroyed the following number of files in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  Number of registered files 
		
		
			 2000 4,146 
			 2001 18,044 
			 2002 22,605 
			 2003 9,419 
			 2004 5,335

Departmental Files

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what changes have been promulgated in each of the past five years to the guidelines or other criteria for the retention or destruction of departmental files.

Derek Twigg: Since 1999, the Department has periodically reviewed and produced schedules, for the disposal of records which are specific to its administrative activities, for both existing and new work. It also disposes of its records in accordance with over twenty guidance notes produced by The National Archives (TNA) over the last five years, covering disposal schedules, managing records in the electronic environment, as well as overarching records management guidance. Further details of this guidance can be found on TNA's website at:
	http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/advice

Further and Higher Education

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many claims of disability discrimination in higher education and further education have been made in England in each year since 2002 (a) in total and (b) broken down by county court; and if she will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: My Department remains fully committed to the work we are all taking forward across Government to improve the rights of disabled people. Clearly education plays an important part in removing the barriers to participation in society and we will continue to ensure that it does so. Compliance with the DDA is made clear to all our delivery partners.
	We do not collect this information centrally and it is not a contractual obligation which we place on our delivery partners. To collect such information would require putting in place systems whereby each FE/HE institution would need to complete regular returns, which would add both bureaucratic and financial burdens. To conduct a one-off exercise to respond to your question would incur disproportionate costs as we would need to approach all FE/HE institutions directly for the information.
	We have, however, asked the DRC for information on the number of cases they have been involved with and they have informed us that since 2002 they have funded five post-16 cases which have been issued in the county court. Four were resolved before hearing and one is ongoing.

Homophobia

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to provide professional training for teachers on how to tackle homophobic bullying.

Derek Twigg: May I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous answers of 11 January 2005 and 20 December 2004, with particular reference to the following measures we are taking: guidance for schools entitled "Stand Up for Us: Challenging Homophobia in Schools" and the publication of the research report "Homophobia, Sexual Orientation and Schools: a review and implications for action". "Stand Up for Us" was produced by National Health Schools Standard colleagues with support form both the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health and is specifically designed to inform teachers on how to deal with issues surrounding homophobic bullying. The research report, which was produced by the Thomas Coram Unit, will be used to inform future developments in our work with schools. The Key Stage 3 behaviour and attendance strategy includes a training module on preventing bullying—including homophobic bullying—and schools can access additional support from their local Behaviour and Attendance Consultant.
	Might I also highlight the first Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month in February 2005. A website has been developed to support this which will suggest activities and events for schools and colleges and offers teachers specific lesson plans and assembly suggestions to encourage and support schools in marking LGBT History Month. It will also provide an online notice board of events and link to current news relevant LGBT History Month. See more at http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk
	The activities above all support teaching staff in countering homophobic bullying. We aim to provide them with the tools they need to convey the message to their pupils that homophobic bullying, like any other form of bullying, cannot be tolerated and that we must challenge homophobic language and attitudes wherever we find them.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Building Regulations

Robert Syms: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the new Part P of Building Regulations on the number of deaths caused by substandard electrical work; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: The Part P Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) published on 22 July 2004 indicates that the annual average number of electrical fatalities in dwellings between 1990 and 1999 was 43. The number of fatalities that will be avoided each year by introducing Part P of the Building Regulations is estimated to be eight. The RIA also indicates that over the same period there were around 2900 injuries each year requiring hospital treatment, and that the number that will be avoided is 548.

Community Housing Task Force

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the previous experience of each member of the community housing task force, with particular reference to experience in (a) the private sector and (b) council house administration.

Keith Hill: A copy of the information requested has been made available in the Library of the House.

Document Costs

Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many copies of the document Creating Better Places and Lives have been printed by his Department; what the costs of (a) design, (b) printing and (c) distribution were; and how many copies were posted unsolicited to individuals and organisations.

Yvette Cooper: The publication to which I think the hon. Member is referring is "Creating better places to live—a guide to the planning system in England".
	The cost of the design (design, artwork and photography) for this publication was £20,135.17, and the cost of printing was £18,000 for 100,000 copies.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister distributed 7,260 copies of the guide by post to interested parties at a cost of £1,170. A further 500 copies were sent to each of the nine Government Offices for the Regions.

Freedom of Information

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff in his Department were employed to deal with Freedom of Information Act 2000 issues in (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004; and how many staff are budgeted to deal with Freedom of Information Act 2000 issues in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006.

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created in 2002 and provided a common Freedom of Information (FOI) service to both the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Transport until 2003. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has employed the following numbers of full-time equivalent staff to deal with Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) issues: three in 2002, five in 2003, and seven in 2004. This includes two staff involved in project management and support for the FOI Implementation project in 2003 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006, 5.5 full-time equivalent staff are budgeted to deal with FOI and EIR issues.
	Beyond those staff directly involved in the ongoing implementation and application of FOI within a Department, it is difficult to identify precisely the number of officials who will be dealing with Freedom of Information issues from 1 January 2005, since it is potentially part of every civil servant's role to respond to Freedom of Information requests.

Land Classifications

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many hectares were classified as (a) urban and (b) suburban in each year since 1990, broken down by region.

Keith Hill: Available data from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's definition of 1991 and 2001 Urban Settlements provide a comparable classification of urban land use with an associated population of 1,000 or more. There are no estimates available for suburban land.
	The following table shows urban land use in hectares broken down by region in England.
	
		
			  Area of urban land (hectares) 
			 Region 1991 2001 
		
		
			 North East 57,200 60,200 
			 North West 153,100 160,300 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber114,100 121,000 
			 East Midlands 92,300 100,900 
			 West Midlands 122,700 129,200 
			 East of England 124,200 134,900 
			 London 130,600 130,500 
			 South East 190,100 205,100 
			 South West 103,000 116,700 
		
	
	Source:
	1991 and 2001 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Urban Settlements definition

Living Spaces Programme

Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the grants made through the Living Spaces programme broken down by local authority area; and what (a) the value of the grant, (b) the title of the scheme and (c) the objective of each scheme was in each case.

Phil Hope: 703 grants have been made through the Living Spaces programme since it was launched in May 2003. The information requested for each project is set out in the table which has been placed in the Library. This information will be made available in due course on the Living Spaces website: www.living-spaces.org.uk

Telecommunications Masts

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures have been taken to encourage dual or multiple use of mobile telephone masts.

Yvette Cooper: Planning Policy Guidance Note 8, "Telecommunications" (PPG8), makes clear the expectation that developers should provide evidence to local planning authorities that they have carefully considered the use of existing masts, buildings and other structures before seeking to erect any new mast, regardless of size. The authority may be justified in refusing prior approval or planning permissions if it considers the evidence regarding the consideration of such alternative sites is not satisfactory.
	Ministers in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister meet regularly with the Mobile Operators Association to discuss a range of issues including the operators' progress in meeting their ten commitments which includes a commitment on site sharing. The UK network operators have established a cross-industry Site Share Working Group and have developed a database to facilitate the exchange of information on site sharing opportunities. The Association also sends statistics relating to site sharing to the Planning Minister every quarter.

Motorway Services

Theresa May: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  when his Department received the Inspector's Report on the proposed motorway services areas at Great Hazes, Great Wood and Junction 8/9 on the M4;
	(2)  when he expects to give his decision on the proposed motorway service areas at Junction 8/9, Great Wood and Great Hazes on the M4, references APP/CO305/A/96/266283, APP/TO355/V/01/1073114 and APP/TO305/A/011070069.

Keith Hill: The Inspector's report into six proposals for motorway service areas at Great Hazes, Great Wood and Junction 8/9 on the M4, New Barn Farm on the M25, and Mount Hill Farm and Burtley Wood on the M40 was received by the Office on 12 January 2005.
	Consideration will now be given to the Inspector's report, and his recommendations, and decisions will be issued as soon as that consideration is completed. However, given the very recent receipt of the report in the Office, it is not possible at this stage to give an indication of when those decisions will be made. I am happy to write to the hon. Member when we have a clearer indication of a timeframe for decision.

Neighbourhood Renewal Funding

Chris Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the balance in the use of neighbourhood renewal funds in Islington is between the most deprived and the least deprived wards in the borough; whether it is his policy that such funds should be primarily targeted at areas of deprivation; and what discussions he plans to have with the borough council about this issue.

Yvette Cooper: Neighbourhood Renewal Funding (NRF) was announced in 2000 to provide £900 million over three years to 88 of the most deprived areas of the country as measured by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2000. Decisions about where and how the money is spent are taken locally based on Local Strategic Partnerships' knowledge and understanding of local need.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not collect information on the allocation of Neighbourhood Renewal Funding (NRF) to specific wards, and could only provide it at disproportionate cost.

Planning Policy Statement 6

Brian Cotter: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the meetings that have taken place between (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department and representatives of (i) Tesco, (ii) Asda, (iii) Sainsburys and (iv) Morrisons about Planning Policy Statement 6 (Town Centres) over the last 12 months.

Keith Hill: I and officials of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister met the British Retail Consortium in May 2004. Among those present were representatives of Tesco and Asda. This meeting discussed a range of issues including draft Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6). In addition officials have met representatives of three of the companies to discuss PPS6, on the following dates: Asda—April 2004 and July 2004, Sainsburys—May 2004, Tesco—September 2004.
	Officials of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister made a series of presentations to a range of stakeholder groups during the consultation period on PPS6. Representatives of Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys did attend a number of these group events. In addition, during the course of Government business Ministers and their officials regularly attend conferences, seminars and events on retail planning matters at which representatives of these companies are present and general matters of policy are discussed.

Staff Gyms

George Osborne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many gyms are available to staff in the Department; and what the cost of providing them was in the last year for which figures are available.

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has four gym facilities available for use by its staff within buildings managed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and access to six others in buildings managed by others.
	The net annual running cost of these in 2003–04 was £142,000. Of this £123,000 (87 per cent.) was for the operation of a fitness centre for firefighters and other trainees at the Fire Service College (FSC) that is also open to members of the public and FSC staff via a membership scheme. The balance was for fitness facilities in the Government Office for the South East and The Planning Inspectorate, which is an Agency of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
	A one-off cost of £86,000 was incurred for moving the fitness centre in the Government Office for the South East, as part of a building refurbishment scheme. All figures exclude VAT.
	Although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has overall responsibility for the buildings occupied by Government Offices, they carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Sustainable Communities

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make it a requirement for all new dwellings in his proposed sustainable communities to (a) be fitted with photovoltaic cells and (b) have separation of drinking water from grey water.

Phil Hope: Minimum performance requirements for dwellings are conveyed through the Building Regulations. These are functional rather than prescriptive to enable compliance in practical and cost-effective ways, and to leave open the possibilities for innovation. It would therefore be inappropriate to prescribe particular technologies such as grey water and photovoltaic cells.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is reviewing the Building Regulations energy efficiency requirements, and amendment proposals were published for consultation in July 2004. The proposals include setting minimum performance standards at levels much higher than at present and providing new technical guidance on low and zero carbon systems. The aim is to encourage builders to take more account of the benefits of low and zero carbon systems without being prescriptive. The responses to the consultation will be taken into account in developing the final amendment provisions which we aim to publish this summer.
	Water conservation is being considered under a review of Part G of the Building Regulations which currently deals with hygiene matters. As in the case of energy, water conservation requirements are likely to be in functional terms. However, the supporting guidance is likely to include a suggestion that a separate water supply should be made to toilets. This will enable toilets to be supplied with grey water rather than use drinking water.

Sustainable Communities

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent assessment he has made of the effects on flood risk elsewhere of the construction of sustainable communities east of London.

Keith Hill: Designing communities that minimise as far as possible the probability and consequences of flooding is an important part of building sustainable communities in the Thames Gateway.
	Planning Policy Guidance Note 25 (PPG25) applies in the Thames Gateway as elsewhere. It looks to regional and local planning authorities to ensure that flood risk is properly taken into account in regional spatial strategies, local development frameworks and plans for individual developments to reduce the risk of flooding and the damage which floods cause.
	The Thames Gateway London Partnership is currently undertaking a strategic flood risk assessment that will help the 11 boroughs in the east London part of the Thames Gateway take account of flood risk as part of their planning processes.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the likely (a) set up costs and (b) annual administration costs of the proposed accreditation scheme under the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 21 December 2004
	There are several examples of effective accreditation schemes already in existence. It may well be that we will be able to use an existing scheme rather than set up a new one. Issues around the costs of such as scheme will be discussed with the industry.

Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy Industry Stakeholder Group is likely to comprise; and when he envisages that it will hold its first meeting.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 21 December 2004
	We aim to establish stakeholder groups with particular areas of focus early in the new year, and will want to make sure that all sectors of the alcohol industry are represented.

Crime Statistics (Bedford and Kempston)

Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of (a) domestic burglary, (b) criminal damage, (c) drug offences, (d) robbery, (e) vehicle theft and (f) violence against the person were recorded in Bedford and Kempston in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2003.

Hazel Blears: The information requested is not available centrally.
	Bedford is a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area. Data at CDRP level has only been published from 1999/2000 onwards. The latest figures for six key offences for 2003/04 can be found at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/cdrptabs.pdf
	More detailed statistics at CDRP level are available for 2002–03 on the new Home Office website:
	http://www.crimestatistics.org.uk

Custody Sergeants

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on plans to civilianise the post of custody sergeant; and what consultation his Department has conducted with interested parties.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 21 December 2004
	Clauses 111 and 112 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, currently before Parliament, proposes that chief officers of police may appoint a staff custody officer in the role of custody officer as set out in Part IV of the Police and Criminal evidence Act 1984.
	The proposal to appoint staff custody officers was contained in the public consultation document "Policing: Modernising Police Powers to Meet Community Needs" published on 12 August 2004. Some 141 responses were received to the exercise, with a number of respondents commenting on the specific area of designated police staff carrying out the function of custody officer. There was strong support for the measure as well as concern about the ability of non-police officers being used in this post.
	We intend to build on the successes already identified in the use of police staff through the workforce modernisation programme. Meetings have taken place with stakeholders at both ministerial and official level. Further meetings are planned early in the new year to discuss this and other areas of police powers contained in the Bill. We will use these meetings to consider how best to introduce the role of staff custody officer.

Initiatives (Funding)

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what budget has been allocated to the National Asylum Support Forum in each of the last two years; and how many staff have been employed by the Forum in each year.

Fiona Mactaggart: The Forum is a regular meeting at which representatives from key stakeholder groups discuss current and future issues in Asylum Support. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate's costs of contributing to this are met from within their overall budget. It is not, therefore, possible to give information on staffing. No specific budget is allocated to it.

Policing (Young People)

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what remedy is available for a young person whose parents are mistakenly informed by the police that he has been spoken to about his conduct, on the basis that his name and address have been given by another individual to the police;
	(2)  what standard of proof is required, and upon whom, when there is a question about whether a young person whose parents have been informed in writing that he has been spoken to by the police about his conduct, asserts that he was not the individual spoken to;
	(3)  what opportunity is given to a young person to show that he is not the person who was spoken to about his conduct by the police before it is recorded that his parents have been notified that he has been spoken to about his conduct;
	(4)  what police record is kept when a young person has been spoken to by police about his conduct and a letter is sent to his parents;
	(5)  what steps are taken against a young person whose parents have been notified on one occasion that he has been spoken to by police, if he is spoken to by police again;
	(6)  what action police officers should take to verify the name and address of a young person before they write to his parents to say that he has been spoken to about his conduct;
	(7)  what the status is of records kept by police that a young person has been spoken to by police and a letter sent to his parents where no verification of the individual's name and address have taken place;
	(8)  if he will recommend to police forces that, when asking for a young person's name and address in advance of sending a letter about his conduct to his parents, the individual's date of birth is also noted;
	(9)  if he will introduce a policy that a young person who is spoken to by police about his conduct is taken home to his parents before details are recorded.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 14 December 2004
	The processes used by police forces to check the identity of a young person vary from case to case but will include asking to see any identification they may have on them, taking them home, cross-checking with any peers present at the time or asking their parents to attend the police station after arrest. The individual may also be known to the officer dealing with them. Relatively few young people give false details to the police; where there is doubt the police will make every effort to establish the correct details.
	The processes used by police forces to record details of contacts with young people vary from force to force and will also depend upon the circumstances of the incident itself. Not every contact is recorded as that may be inappropriate.
	In the case of street bail, the police will write to the parents of the young person concerned asking them to attend with their child at an appropriate time. Again, if it becomes clear that the young person is not the one involved in the matter under investigation, police will make every effort to locate the correct person.
	Where the police decide to administer a reprimand or final warning, both of which count as a youth justice disposal, they are required first to make certain that the young person did commit the offence; including their having admitted this to the officer. The police then write to the young person, and their parents if the young person is under 16, asking them to attend at a police station for the reprimand or warning. If for any reason the wrong person has been written to the process will be discontinued with no action recorded against them, and separate attempts made to establish the true identity of the offender.
	There are no current plans to change the way in which individual forces interact with young people as their policies will reflect local community concerns and protocols. However Clause 107 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill will allow the photographing of suspects elsewhere than at a police station. This will provide a safeguard against misidentification.

Road Traffic Offences (Fatalities)

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it a requirement for sentencing in all road traffic cases where a fatality has occurred to be made at the Crown court.

Paul Goggins: All current offences that include a fatality as an element are indictable only and dealt with in the Crown court. The current review of road traffic offences addresses the adequacy of the current law in respect of the often tragic consequences of bad driving, including the appropriate venue for trial. This work is reaching a conclusion and we aim to publish the consultation paper shortly. We are also responding to the recommendation of the Transport Committee's report "Traffic Law and Its Enforcement" that more cases should be dealt with in the Crown court. The Government are currently preparing its response to the Select Committee and aims to present this in the near future.

Sentencing

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will reassess the need for short custodial sentences, including custody plus, where there is no evidence of a deterrent effect or rehabilitative value.

Paul Goggins: The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced Custody Plus, which reforms the structure of short prison sentences. Custody Plus will involve a short custodial sentence followed by supervision and rehabilitation in the community.
	At present most offenders released into the community after short sentences receive no supervision or support. Under Custody Plus, time spent in custody will be one part of an overall sentence plan, managed by a single offender manager, who will be responsible for ensuring appropriate interventions in order to prevent reoffending.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Freedom of Information

John Mann: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, what categories of information are available under Freedom of Information legislation that have not been provided in written parliamentary answers on behalf of the House of Commons Commission in the last three years.

Archy Kirkwood: The Freedom of Information Act does not make specific categories of information available, but places a general duty on public authorities to provide information, subject to specified exemptions. The House of Commons is a public authority within the terms of the Act, and written requests for information will be handled in accordance with the terms of the Act. The Act does not apply to parliamentary questions and answers, and I therefore do not expect any significant change in the Commission's practice in answering oral or written parliamentary questions as a result of the coming into force of the Act.

PRIME MINISTER

European Constitution

John Hayes: To ask the Prime Minister which speakers will be invited to the planned meeting of FTSE 100 leaders at Downing street on the European Constitution; what the projected cost of this meeting is; and which (a) Ministers and (b) outside organisations will be in attendance.

Tony Blair: No such meeting is currently planned.

Iraq

Alex Salmond: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with the US Administration concerning the tactics used in the siege of Fallujah; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the US (a) President and (b) Defence Secretary on the creation of a free fire zone in Fallujah.

Tony Blair: The Government and UK Military Commanders are engaged in constant dialogue with the US Government on a range of operations in Iraq. Disclosing details would endanger those operations.

Non-proliferation Treaty

Adrian Flook: To ask the Prime Minister whether a senior Cabinet Minister will attend the non-proliferation treaty meeting to be held in London in spring 2005.

Tony Blair: There is no non-proliferation treaty meeting in London this spring. However there will be an International Conference on Nuclear Security, which will be held in London between 16 and 18 March.
	The Foreign Secretary, who would normally have attended this conference, is unable to do so because of previous engagements. In his absence his Minister of State, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, will represent him.

TREASURY

Credit Unions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether he plans to offer alternative funding assistance to credit unions to replace funding withdrawn due to state aid regulations;
	(2)  what recent representations he has received on state aid regulations in relation to credit unions;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the impact of new state aid regulations on (a) newly-formed and (b) established credit unions.

Stephen Timms: In late 2003, the Government became aware that the European Commission took the view that Government funding of credit unions potentially constituted state aid. The Government have kept in close contact with the credit union sector on this issue and is currently working to gain approval of a scheme whereby funding of credit unions is permissible under state aid rules.

Free Trade Area

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the economic benefits that would arise from the creation of a free trade area including the US and the EU.

Stephen Timms: The benefits from trade liberalisation are greatest if barriers are reduced on a multilateral basis.
	Complementary to pursuing a successful outcome to the Doha Development Round of WTO negotiations, the Government supports strengthened economic cooperation between the EU and the US, focusing particularly on non-tariff barriers such as regulations and standards.
	The OECD is currently analysing the economic benefits of closer transatlantic economic integration with initial results due in the spring.

Free Trade Area

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department has had with the EU Trade Commissioner regarding the creation of a free trade area between the EU and the US.

Stephen Timms: The Treasury and other Government Departments have regular contacts with the Commission on issues related to EU-US economic co-operation.

Income Statistics

Michael Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of average real personal disposable income was in each year since 1975; and what the percentage change was in each year.

Stephen Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Michael Meacher, dated January 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the level of average real personal disposable income per head (207773).
	The information available is shown in the attached table. The data is presented as annual values for 1975 to 2003. Annual data for 2004 are not published until March.
	The households series used for these data are for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. The accounts for the household and NPISH sectors are currently combined: separate estimates are not available.
	
		
			  Real households disposable income per head at chained volume measures Ref. Year 2001(2) (£) Percentage change, year on year (%) 
		
		
			 1975 6,011 1.0 
			 1976 5,989 -0.4 
			 1977 5,870 -2.0 
			 1978 6,301 7.3 
			 1979 6,666 5.8 
			 1980 6,767 1.5 
			 1981 6,730 -0.5 
			 1982 6,714 -0.2 
			 1983 6,849 2.0 
			 1984 7,093 3.6 
			 1985 7,316 3.1 
			 1986 7,602 3.9 
			 1987 7,865 3.5 
			 1988 8,276 5.2 
			 1989 8,640 4.4 
			 1990 8,917 3.2 
			 1991 9,066 1.7 
			 1992 9,298 2.6 
			 1993 9,536 2.6 
			 1994 9,657 1.3 
			 1995 9,859 2.1 
			 1996 10,101 2.5 
			 1997 10,491 3.9 
			 1998 10,497 0.1 
			 1999 10,804 2.9 
			 2000 11,427 5.8 
			 2001 11,882 4.0 
			 2002 12,009 1.1 
			 2003 12,272 2.2 
		
	
	(2) The real household disposable income per head series is currently measured in the prices of year 2001. The current prices series for household disposable income is re-valued by the households and NPISH final consumption deflator.

Ministerial Visits

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which (a) military facilities and (b) defence contractors he has visited since he took office in 1997, excluding the Dockyards in Rosyth.

Gordon Brown: Since 1997 Treasury Ministers have had a number of meetings with defence contractors, visited a number of military facilities and have met the Chiefs of Staff on a number of occasions to discuss defence matters.
	However to provide the full detailed information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

State Opening of Parliament

Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the benefits to the economy of the State Opening of Parliament.

Stephen Timms: The State Opening of Parliament is not motivated by economic considerations. Any economic effects arising from it are likely to be extremely small.

Tax Credits

Anthony Steen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when a decision will be made on the appeal submitted by Mr. Keith Morris of Paignton on 23 October 2004 against an alleged overpayment of tax credits.

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue replied to the hon. Gentleman about his constituent on 11 January 2005 having written to Mr. Morris on 6 January.

Uzbekistan

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with the Government of Uzbekistan about the merits of implementing banking sector reforms that (a) increase independence of banks from the State, (b) ensure confidentiality of accounts and (c) remove restrictions on cash transactions;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Uzbekistan about the merits of (a) removing restrictions on convertibility, (b) relaxing restrictions on circulation of the national currency, (c) allowing market mechanisms to determine the exchange rate and (d) permitting gradual devaluation of the Som.

Stephen Timms: None.

DEFENCE

African Union Troops

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures he has taken in respect of the UK commitment to train 20,000 African Union troops over the next five years.

Adam Ingram: The Ministry of Defence is organising this training in two different ways. First, by direct action, for example through British military training teams deployed to Africa, conducting specific training for Peace Support Operations (PSO) and training prior to actual PSO deployments, as well as through UK-based regular professional training modules offered to African officers. Second, indirectly through our support to the development of international training centres of excellence. Examples are the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Ghana, the Peace Support Training Centre in Kenya, the Tactical Peace Support Training Centre in Bloemfontein, South Africa and the Jaji Peacekeeping Training Wing in Nigeria. Helping to build such training centres, as well as the training of trainers, has a major multiplier effect and is in line with the UK and wider international policy for the development of African PSO capacity over the longer term.

Infantry

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the decisions on the recent infantry re-organisation were finalised.

Adam Ingram: The decisions announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence last year, 16 December 2004, Official Report, column 195, were approved by the Army Board at its meeting on 14 December.

Tsunami

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the British military contribution to date to assist in the tsunami relief operation; on what dates military units were deployed; and what their destinations were.

Adam Ingram: The Ministry of Defence, along with other Government Departments, has reacted quickly in responding to this disaster, with the focus being on assisting the UN through DfID, with whom we are working very closely, and providing direct relief where appropriate.
	The following military assets have been assigned to assist in the relief operation in the Indian Ocean:
	The frigate HMS Chatham (which carries two Lynx helicopters) was redirected to the area on 30 December, arriving on 3 January and the support ship RFA Diligence, already in the region, joined Chatham off Sri Lanka on 5 January. These vessels have undertaken a number of relief tasks, including assistance to the town of Baticoloa in the east of Sri Lanka, and provision of engineers to the Maldives to assist with refurbishment of generators and desalination equipment. Chatham and Diligence have worked closely with an Observation Liaison and Reconnaissance Team (OLRT) which deployed to Colombo on 31 December, part of which also deployed to the Maldives on 6 January.
	Royal Air Force C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft have also been assisting in the aid operation since 31 December, through the delivery of UN infrastructure equipment and medical and other relief supplies into the worst affected areas.
	A further OLRT deployed to Indonesia on 2 January, including to the Banda Aceh region. MOD liaison officers are deployed with the US, Australian and Indonesian military headquarters in the region.
	The Indonesian Government have accepted an offer of additional technical support in the form of two helicopters from the Gurkha Garrison in Brunei. These two Bell 212s are planned to deploy to the area on 12 January.
	Further, small deployments of niche capabilities such as logistics planners and engineers have also taken place in response to DflD and OLRT requests.

TRANSPORT

Departmental Equipment

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many items of electrical equipment were used by his Department in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) cost and (b) number of each type of item.

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has a large and diverse estate of some 1,681 properties containing substantial amounts of electrical items from computers to plant and equipment. To provide the annual numbers and costs details for all these items would take a significant amount of time as they are not separately recorded and would be at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Equipment

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many electronic devices are owned by the Department, broken down by type.

Charlotte Atkins: I would refer the hon. Member to my answer given to him today (UIN ref 205734) as the same circumstances apply to providing the information on electrical equipment owned by the Department.

Documents

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's policy is in relation to the storage of documents and the use of shredders; and whether this policy has been reviewed in the past 12 months.

Charlotte Atkins: Documents are stored either close to where they are used or by an off-site storage contractor. Material of no value as a record is disposed of, preferably by recycling, as soon as it is no longer required. Documents that form part of the official record are stored until they reach the end of their retention periods or they are selected for permanent preservation and transferred to The National Archives. When they are no longer required, official records are disposed of by shredding or other appropriate means and paper is recycled where practicable. Retention periods are determined on the basis of business need and guidance issued by The National Archives. Further details can be found at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/.
	The Department's policy on the storage and disposal of records has not changed in the past 12 months.

Driving Licences (Correct Address)

Peter Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people have been prosecuted for failure to provide correct addresses for their driving licences in each year since 1990.

David Jamieson: holding answer 10 January 2005
	Any penalties subsequently imposed by courts for other offences may incorporate a penalty for non-notification, but the court statistics only record the prime offence(s). There are no statistics available for this specific offence of failure to notify changes.

E-mails

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's policy is in relation to the storage and deletion of e-mails; and whether this policy has been reviewed in the past 12 months.

Charlotte Atkins: The Department continues to implement well established policies and procedures for the review and disposal of files in accordance with its administrative needs and the Public Records Act.
	E-mail messages that form part of the official record are saved for as long as business needs require and stored corporately in accordance with departmental record management procedures. Further e-mail guidance can be found at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/electronicrecords/advice/pdf/managing_emails.pdf
	The Department's staff are encouraged to limit the amount of e-mail held in electronic mailboxes and to dispose of e-mail in accordance with the policy. This policy has not changed in the last 12 months.

Entertainment Costs

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent on entertainment by his Department in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) food, (b) alcohol, (c) staff and (d) accommodation.

Charlotte Atkins: The Department for Transport was formed in May 2002 and as a result the information provided only relates to the years from 2002–03 onwards.
	The Department does not keep separate records on spend on entertainment broken down between food, alcohol, staff and accommodation. For information on the costs of entertainment incurred by the central Department during 2002–03 and 2003–04, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 10 May 2004, Official Report, column 12W.

Experimental Regional Transport Board

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the remit of the Experimental Regional Transport Board for (a) the South East of England and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber is.

Charlotte Atkins: The terms of reference for the experimental boards are set out in the annex to the report "Evaluation of Experimental Regional Transport Boards" which was published on 22 December 2004. http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_localtrans/documents/page/dft_localtrans_033632.hcsp

Experimental Regional Transport Board

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the costs were of setting up the Experimental Regional Transport Board for (a) the South East of England and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber.

Charlotte Atkins: No record was kept of the time that those involved devoted to the work of the experimental boards. The costs were effectively absorbed by their various employers.

Harbours

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what powers he has to instruct vessels to secure safe anchorage (a) within harbour limits and (b) outside harbour limits.

David Jamieson: The Marine Safety Act 2003 gives the Secretary of State the power to instruct a vessel to secure safe anchorage if in his opinion an accident has occurred to or in the ship, the accident has created a risk to safety or a risk of pollution by a hazardous substance and the instruction is necessary to remove or reduce the risk.

Harbours

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what factors determine his Department's policy towards the setting of harbour limits.

David Jamieson: Changes to existing harbour limits or proposals for new limits are applied for by existing or candidate harbour authorities by way of harbour orders under the Harbours Act 1964. The Secretary of State will consider the applications on the merits of each case and after public consultation.

Harbours

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what powers he has to determine harbour limits in England.

David Jamieson: Harbour limits have been set in local legislation applying to individual harbours authorities. Changes to limits, or the setting of new limits, are made by way of harbour orders submitted under the Harbours Act 1964 to the Secretary of State for determination, and promoted by existing or potential harbour authorities.

Midland Metro

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely (a) start and (b) completion date for construction of the extension of the Midland Metro light rapid transit system from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill; and if he will make a statement.

Charlotte Atkins: No assessment has been made. I understand from the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, Centro, who are the promoters of the scheme, that they expect the construction to start mid 2007 and to be completed in 2010. This is, however, subject to powers for the extension being confirmed by Parliament and to our consideration of a final business case, which is expected to be submitted in the spring. Although the Department announced on 20 December 2004 that the Secretary of State had decided to make an Order under the Transport and Works Act giving powers for the scheme, the Order will need to be subject to special parliamentary procedure before it can come into force, as it involves the compulsory purchase of open space without other land being offered in exchange. It is expected that the Order will be laid before Parliament later this month.

Ministerial Visits

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what ministerial visits are planned for each Minister in his Department in the next six months; and if he will make a statement.

Charlotte Atkins: The Secretary of State and other Ministers in the Department for Transport expect to undertake a number of visits on Departmental business in the next six months. It is not intended to publish details of these in advance as this would create an increased security risk.

Press Officers

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many press officers are employed in the Department.

Charlotte Atkins: The number of full-time equivalent press officers employed in DfT on l April 2004, broken down between the central department and the agencies, is:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Transport (Central) 16 
			 Driving Standards Agency 2 
			 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency 8 
			 Highways Agency 6 
			 Marine and Coastguard Agency 3 
			 Vehicle Certification Agency 0 
			 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency 1

Shipwrecks

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vessels have run aground around the UK coastline in each of the past 10 years for which figures are available.

David Jamieson: The following numbers of groundings—broken down between fishing vessels and merchant vessels (of >=100 gt)—in UK coastal waters were reported to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch as occurring in each of the years from 1994 to 2003:
	
		
			  Fishing vessels Merchant Vessels of>=100gt Total 
		
		
			 1994 60 28 88 
			 1995 55 43 98 
			 1996 60 51 111 
			 1997 41 64 105 
			 1998 45 50 95 
			 1999 35 34 69 
			 2000 40 23 63 
			 2001 29 31 60 
			 2002 27 20 47 
			 2003 42 28 70 
			 Total 434 372 806 
		
	
	For the purposes of this answer "the UK coastline" is defined as UK territorial waters (i.e. 12 mile limit).

Waterways

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action he has taken to ensure that waterways and canals which are navigable are not subject to development other than for transport purposes.

David Jamieson: Last year my Department, along with Defra and ODPM, published a guide to planning for freight on inland waterways. This is designed to help policy makers and planners, bodies responsible for the management of the waterways, carriers and other bodies to understand how good planning can support and encourage the use of inland waterways for freight transport.
	My Department also keeps in close touch with the water freight industry, and works to encourage proper consideration of the risks and benefits for developments that might affect the potential for waterborne freight.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Staff

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage of departmental staff are based in London.

Richard Caborn: All of the Department's staff are based in London.

Motor Racing

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what meetings the Minister for Sport has recently attended regarding the future of the Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: I attended several meetings last year where the Formula One racing at Silverstone was discussed. I am pleased that the British Racing Drivers Club have secured the future of the British Grand Prix for the next five years.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Freedom of Information

John Mann: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what categories of information are available under Freedom of Information legislation that have not been provided in written parliamentary answers on behalf of the Speaker's Committee in the last three years.

Peter Viggers: I assume that the hon. Member is referring to categories of information that the Speaker's Committee had declined to provide in written parliamentary answers in the last three years. I am not aware of any occasion when such a situation has arisen.

HEALTH

Chlamydia Screening

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his Department's policy is on chlamydia screening for men; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will arrange for chlamydia screening for women to be followed up by advice for their partners on access to appropriate treatment for men; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: The Department's policy for chlamydia screening for men is to promote greater uptake through the national chlamydia screening programme. The national chlamydia screening programme targets sexually active men and women under 25, who are most at risk of infection. It provides a co-ordinated framework for screening which includes testing, treatment, health promotion, partner notification and contact tracing.
	The Department has also commissioned the Men's Health Forum to oversee the "Men and Chlamydia" project, which aims to increase men's awareness of chlamydia, promote safer sex and encourage men to seek testing and treatment. Young men and women are also targeted with information about chlamydia through our national sexual health media campaigns, including a major new campaign to be launched later this year, as announced through the White Paper.
	The Public Health White Paper, "Choosing Health: Making healthy choices easier" included a commitment to accelerate the roll-out of the national chlamydia screening programme, with the goal of making this available across the country by March 2007, backed by investment of £80 million to achieve this aim.

Conferences

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from his Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case.

Rosie Winterton: This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for Doncaster, Central (Ms Winterton) will reply to the letter of 15 November 2004 from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire.

Rosie Winterton: The letter was answered on 11 December 2004.

CPPIH

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the abolition of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health.

Rosie Winterton: The abolition of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH) will contribute to the £500 million savings that will result from the review of all the Department's arm's length bodies. These savings will be re-invested in frontline services—this includes patients' forums. We are currently consulting patients' forums and other key stakeholders about the arrangements that will be put in place to support patients' forums once the CPPIH has been abolished.

Dentistry

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons are for the change in the timing of the publication of the new NHS dental patients charges regime.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 21 December 2004
	We need to give careful consideration to all aspects of the system reform which we are undertaking. As indicated in the written statement made to the House by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health on 10 January 2005, Official Report, columns 6–8WS, we will move to full implementation by April 2006. As part of these plans, we will publish new regulations for dental charging for consultation in the summer of 2005.

Dentistry

Patrick McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there were in (a) West Derbyshire constituency and (b) Derbyshire in each of the last seven years.

Rosie Winterton: The earliest available information (1998) is shown in the table. For the West Derbyshire constituency area, there are three primary care trusts (PCTs)—Amber Valley PCT, Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire PCT and High Peaks and Dales PCT. Subtotals for these PCTs are also recorded.
	
		Number of general and personal dental service dentists in the Derbyshire area by PCT at September each year, 1998 to 2004
		
			 PCT 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 1. Amber Valley 38 37 40 40 44 40 47 
			 2. Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire 29 33 34 37 39 42 44 
			 3. High Peak and Dales 36 41 41 44 48 52 54 
			 Central Derby 37 45 42 44 42 43 46 
			 Greater Derby 49 48 53 58 63 60 68 
			 North Eastern Derbyshire 35 34 37 49 50 51 53 
			 Subtotal of three PCTs 103 111 115 121 131 134 145 
			 Total of above PCTs 224 238 247 272 286 288 312 
		
	
	Source:
	Dental Practice Board.

Dentistry

Patrick McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists have applied to become NHS dentists in (a) West Derbyshire constituency and (b) Derbyshire in each of the last seven years.

Rosie Winterton: The information shown in the table shows dentists starting work in the Derbyshire, area for the first time in the general (GDS) or personal dental service (PDS).
	The number of GDS and PDS dentists starting work is shown by primary care trust (PCT) at September each year for the years 1998 to 2004. This is the earliest available data.
	For West Derbyshire constituency area, there are three PCTs: Amber Valley PCT, Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire PCT, and High Peaks and Dales PCT. Subtotals for these PCTs are recorded in the table.
	
		Number of general and personal dental service dentists who joined PCTs in the Derbyshire area in the 12 months to September each year, 1998 to 2004
		
			 PCT 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 1. Amber Valley 6 6 8 7 9 6 8 
			 2. Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire 1 5 3 6 5 5 7 
			 3. High Peak and Dales 4 6 7 6 8 8 9 
			 Central Derby 7 12 6 6 7 7 6 
			 Greater Derby 6 3 12 9 9 5 10 
			 North Eastern Derbyshire 7 2 4 15 9 6 6 
			 Subtotal of three PCTs 11 17 18 19 22 19 24 
			 Total of above PCTs 31 34 40 49 47 37 46

Dentistry

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what forecast his Department has made of the number of dental practices transferring to a Personal Dental Services contract by December 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the oral answer of 7 December 2004, Official Report, column 1029, from the Minister of State for Health, the hon. Member for Doncaster, Central (Ms Winterton), 
	(1)  whether the 2,500 dentists and 1,000 personal dental services (PDS) sites include (a) the original PDS pilot sites, (b) PDS applications and (c) community dental services;
	(2)  how many personal dental services contract applications are (a) pending and (b) were completed in each of the last 12 months.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 2 December 2004
	As at 16 December 2004, the Department was processing 502 expressions of interest in making a proposal for a personal dental service (PDS) scheme and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health had approved a further 109 PDS proposals that are not yet in operation.
	During 2004, 802 PDS schemes became operational. Information is not held centrally on in which month in 2004 the schemes went live.
	There are now some 3,500 dentists in 1,300 sites working under PDS arrangements. These figures include the original remuneration field sites managed by the NHS Modernisation Agency under the Options for Change programme, but exclude PDS applications and community dental services. We expect interest in PDS to continue to grow until, with implementation of the new contractual arrangements for national health service dentistry, the benefits of PDS are available to all NHS dentists.

Departmental Expenditure

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of travel within the UK for the Department was in each year since 1997; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence.

Rosie Winterton: The Department's total spend on travel within the United Kingdom since 1997 is shown in table 1.
	
		Table 1 -- £
		
			  Amount(3) 
		
		
			 1997–98 6,230,714 
			 1998–99 5,421,862 
			 1999–2000 6,726,111 
			 2000–01 6,948,398 
			 2001–02 7,546,829 
			 2002–03 7,189,396 
			 2003–04 7,720,637 
		
	
	(3) The cost of hire cars is included in these amounts, but is not available separately. There has been no expenditure on helicopters.
	The Department's spend on day and night subsistence within the UK is shown in table 2.
	
		Table 2 -- £
		
			  Amount(4) 
		
		
			 1997–98 870,832 
			 1998–99 852,272 
			 1999–2000 1,083,664 
			 2000–01 1,369,780 
			 2001–02 1,392,948 
			 2002–03 1,421,354 
			 2003–04 2,019,014 
		
	
	(4) Expenditure on subsistence includes hotel accommodation, but this is not separately available.
	All travel complied with the requirements of the "Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers" and the "Civil Service Management Code".

DXA Bone Density Scanning

Joyce Quin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list primary care trusts in England which do not have DXA bone density scanning facilities, broken down by region.

John Hutton: There are over 120 hospitals in England that have at least one bone density scanner but the Department does not maintain a central record of which primary care trusts (PCTs) have dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry bone scanning facilities. PCTs will arrange for use of these scanners or alternatively buy in the service from mobile service providers as and when required.

Electronic Devices

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many electronic devices are owned by the Department, broken down by type.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has a total of 11,719 electronic items on its asset register. This is broken down into:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Servers 502 
			 Personal computers 5,888 
			 Laptops 2,700 
			 Printers 2,629

Food Colourings

Tam Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to protect children against hyperactive behaviour which may be caused by colourings (a) tartrazine (E102), (b) sunset yellow (E110), (c) camoisine (E122), (d) pancean 4R (E124) and (e) sodium benzoale (E211); and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: These substances were the subject of a Government-funded study to investigate the possible link with hyperactive behaviour. The committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment assessed the outcome of this work and concluded that it was difficult to draw firm conclusions regarding the significance of the results, but that this was still an area of significant scientific uncertainty that warranted further investigation. A new study with improved experimental design is under way and is due to finish in March 2007.

Food Labelling

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Food Labelling (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 require the mandatory labelling of homemade cakes, biscuits and jams sold in aid of charity; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: The Food Labelling (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 do not apply to non pre-packed food, including that sold in aid of charity. Pre-packed food is subject to these new regulations. Many charities will continue to rely on a general exemption from this and other labelling legislation for food pre-packed for direct sale.

Hospital Food

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to take steps to restrict the amount of (a) salt and (b) fat in hospital food.

Melanie Johnson: Public procurement of food through the national health service offers an opportunity to demonstrate best practice in influencing access to healthier foods. We have made a commitment in the Government's White Paper, "Choosing Health", to develop nutritional standards for all foods provided by the NHS, increasing access to a range of healthier foods and taking account of the different formats of provision including restaurant, fast food and vending. Planning for the implementation of this is under way and more details will be available in 2005, when the Government publishes its delivery plan for the White Paper.
	The Department has already engaged the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency in discussions to reduce the salt content in processed foods supplied to NHS trusts and a salt reduction plan has been drawn up. Work to reduce fat will build on this approach.

Identity Fraud

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of identity fraud in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number of people who received treatment on the NHS to which they were not entitled and (b) total cost of this treatment in each year.

John Hutton: No estimates have been made of the cost to the National Health Service of identity fraud and would not be easy to make. Figures are not collected centrally on the number of people who receive NHS treatment but are not entitled to do so, or the cost of that treatment. However, the Government take the issue seriously and issued new guidance to the NHS trusts in 2004 to prevent abuse of the NHS by people not entitled to free NHS hospital treatment.

MRSA

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many claims were made alleging that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was acquired as a result of clinical negligence in each quarter since 1997;
	(2)  what cost in each year since 1997 was incurred by the NHS as a result of claims where it was alleged that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was acquired as a result of clinical negligence;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the percentage of claims which have been settled since 1997, where it was alleged that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was acquired as a result of clinical negligence.

Melanie Johnson: The National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHS LA) administers the clinical negligence scheme for trusts (CNST) in England. The CNST provides indemnity against claims for clinical negligence for its members. CNST data held by the NHS LA are shown in the tables.
	
		Table 1. Percentage of closed/settled claims since 1997 where the cause is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
		
			 Status of claim Percentage of claims since 1997 
		
		
			 Closed settled claims where the cause was MRSA 0.35 
			 Settled claims with damages paid where the cause is MRSA 0.41 
		
	
	
		Table 2. Payments made each year since 1997, where one of the causes is MRSA and the number of claims where the cause is shown as MRSA by incident year since 1997
		
			  Payments made for claims where one of the causes is shown as MRSA Number of claims where one of the causes is shown as MRSA 
		
		
			 1997–98 — 4 
			 1998–99 — 11 
			 1999–2000— 27 
			 2000–01 999 45 
			 2001–02 69,798 40 
			 2002–03 230,412 29 
			 2003–04 788,541 19 
			 Total 1,089,750 175 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Claims may still be made for incidents relating to 2001–02 and later years.
	2. There is no direct correlation between the columns as:
	(i) claims may be successfully defended, so although a claim is made there may be no payment made against that claim.
	(ii) the year of incident may be earlier than year of payment.
	3. Claims may be for a number of incidents, not solely MRSA. Therefore, the level of payment made will not only relate to MRSA. MRSA may be only a small element of the claim.
	4. Before 2002, lower value CNST claims were handled locally, so data will not be on the NHS LA database. These values were determined with the NHS LA on a trust by trust basis.

MRSA

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA and how many deaths arising there from there were at the (a) Sunderland Royal Hospital, (b) Durham University Hospital, (c) Hartlepool University Hospital, (d) North Tees Hospital and (e) James Cook Hospital—South Tees in each of the last five years.

Melanie Johnson: Information on methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections (bacteraemias) has only been collected since April 2001 and is collected by national health service trust rather than by hospital. The data for the relevant trusts are shown in the table.
	The mandatory MRSA bloodstream surveillance does not collect information on deaths.
	
		
			  April 2001-March 2002 April 2002-March 2003 April 2003-March 2004 
			 Name of NHS trust (name of hospital) Number of MRSA bacteraemia reports MRSA rate per 1,000 bed-days Number of MRSA bacteraemia reports MRSA rate per 1,000 bed-days Number of MRSA bacteraemia reports MRSA rate per 1,000 bed-days 
		
		
			 City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust (Sunderland Royal Hospital) 41 0.15 47 0.17 56 0.22 
			 County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (University Hospital North Durham) 30 0.08 40 0.10 38 0.09 
			 North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust (University Hospital of Hartlepool and University Hospital of North Tees) 21 0.09 19 0.08 15 0.06 
			 South Tees Hospital NHS Trust (James Cook University Hospital) 120 0,30 96 0.23 69 0.20 
		
	
	Source:
	Health Protection Agency

Midwives

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwives there were in (a) England, (b) each strategic health authority and (c) each primary care trust in each year since 1997, on a (i) headcount and (ii) whole-time equivalent basis.

John Hutton: The number of midwives employed directly by primary care trusts is very small. Most are employed by other national health service organisations. Information on the number of midwives employed by each NHS organisation, in each year since September 1997, has been placed in the Library.

Dental Health

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when figures for the percentage of adults in each region with no natural teeth in 2003 will be available.

Rosie Winterton: The general household survey results were published on the National Statistics website at www.statistics.gov.uk/ghs/ on 16 December 2004.
	The table shows the percentage of adults with no natural teeth by Government office region. The percentage of adults in England with no natural teeth has fallen from 14 per cent., in the 1995 general household survey to 9 per cent., in the 2003 survey.
	
		Percentage of adults with no natural teeth by Government office region
		
			 Persons aged 16 and over Great Britain: 2003 
			 Government office region Percentage with no natural teeth Weighted base (000's) =100% Unweighted sample 
		
		
			 England
			 North East 14 1,924 750 
			 North West 11 5,076 2,207 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber12 4,044 1,669 
			 East Midlands 10 3,236 1,603 
			 West Midlands 11 4,191 1,937 
			 East of England 6 4,043 1,686 
			 London 6 5,392 1,985 
			 South East 6 6,316 2,539 
			 South West 9 4,097 1,808 
			 All England 9 38,319 16,184 
			 Wales 12 2,207 1,005 
			 Scotland 17 4,030 1,637 
			 Great Britain 10 44,557 18,826 
		
	
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics—2003 general household survey.

Patient Environment Action Teams

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what elements of hospital cleanliness were assessed in the process of compiling the 2004 Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) scores for hospital cleanliness; how the elements assessed differed from those used to compile the PEAT hospital cleanliness scores in previous years; for what reasons these changes were introduced; and what further plans he has to change the PEAT hospital cleanliness assessment procedure.

John Hutton: The latest patient environment action team assessment included cleanliness of the external grounds, entrances and reception areas, wards, emergency departments, other departments and waiting areas, public areas, departure lounges, toilets and bathrooms. In addition, cleanliness is a factor—directly or indirectly—in areas relating to waste handling, linen, decor, hard and soft furnishings, lifts, stairwells and staff uniforms. Previous assessments included these areas but not in the same level of detail.
	The 2005 assessment has been amended to include a section relating to aspects of infection control, and discussions are under way with the Healthcare Commission about the design of the assessment from 2006.

Radiology

Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the costs, including the fee for the radiologists report, of MRI scans performed in (a) private sector mobile MRI scanners and (b) NHS static scanners.

John Hutton: holding answer 6 December 2004
	The exact costs of the scanning and reporting procedure is a matter of commercial confidence.
	The scans performed within the central contract with Alliance will cost less than half the equivalent national health service price over the five-year period of the contract. This represents good value for money in addition to boosting NHS capacity.
	Trusts are at liberty to commission services themselves from Independent Sector (IS) providers, and there are approximately 30 mobile magnetic resonance imaging scanners operating within the NHS on this basis. These are private arrangements and may vary in price depending on the provider.

Salt

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made in reducing the salt content in processed food.

Melanie Johnson: As part of a programme of work on reducing salt in the diet, which includes working with the industry and a public health campaign, the Food Standards Agency and the Department have received about 50 salt reduction plans from the food industry. These contain a range of commitments to reductions.

Television Advertising

Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he had with broadcasters prior to the publication of proposals for limitations on advertising on children's television set out in the Public Health White Paper.

Melanie Johnson: The Department discussed its proposals for restrictions on the advertising and promotion of food to children, as set out in the White Paper "Choosing Health: Making Healthier Choices Easier", with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and with Ofcom and other key Government Departments and agencies. There were no formal discussions with individual broadcasters in the development of those proposals, although Ofcom and relevant Government Departments will be discussing the detail of the proposals with key stakeholders, including broadcasters, in due course.
	Planning for the implementation of this and a number of other initiatives are under way and more details will be announced in 2005, when the Government will publish their delivery plan for the White Paper.

Tsunami

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provisions have been put in place to allow NHS professionals and staff who wish to do so to volunteer to travel to South Asia to assist the ongoing relief effort following the tsunami disaster; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: Advice received from the Department for International Development has confirmed that, due to the large-scale Government and public response of many countries, the affected areas are receiving adequate medical supplies and equipment and that, at present, no additional medical or nursing staff are required.
	The Department is aware that some national health service staff may wish to volunteer to work in the region. This is an issue for local NHS management. This situation is being monitored regularly and should the position change, the Department would give urgent consideration to how any NHS response should be co-ordinated.

Tsunami

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what special assistance the NHS is offering the on-going relief effort in South Asia following the tsunami disaster; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: Advice received from the Department for International Development has confirmed that, due to the large-scale Government and public response of many countries, the affected areas are receiving adequate medical supplies and equipment and that, at present, no additional medical or nursing staff are required. This situation is being monitored regularly and should the position change, the Department is actively considering how any national health service response would be handled.

Tsunami

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision the NHS has made to treat UK nationals returning to England from South Asia requiring care and treatment following the tsunami disaster; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: The Department has taken strategic co-ordination of the national health service response to the repatriation of injured nationals and has activated its major incident co-ordination centre. Repatriation is on-going via three receiving airports—Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester. At each airport reception centre, triage, care for minor injuries and referral for further treatment, as required, is being managed by the local ambulance services and NHS trusts.
	In addition, as the number of people who have suffered bereavement or other psychological trauma is likely to be significant, the Department is working with the NHS, the British Red Cross and other voluntary organisations to co-ordinate the provision of counselling services to those affected. This co-ordinated approach is designed to provide quality assurance and to promote best practice in the management of acute stress and post-traumatic stress disorder.

CABINET OFFICE

Civil Service Pension Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will place in the Library the analysis on which the statement that lower paid workers will benefit most from moving the civil service pension scheme to average salary calculation was based.

Alan Milburn: holding answer 20 December 2004
	The document "Building a sustainable future" sets out the Cabinet Office's proposals for changes to the civil service pension arrangements. The proposed arrangements will be fairer between civil servants. Lower paid workers are one of the groups for whom the new model is more likely to be fairer.
	The analysis on which this answer is based is not held in a single document but has resulted from various modelling exercises and advice from the scheme actuary, including data from previous actuarial valuations. I will place a brief note summarising the key issues in the Library.

Departmental Expenditure

John Bercow: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list the equipment leasing arrangements entered into by the Office in each of the last two years; and what the cost is to public funds in each case.

David Miliband: Equipment leasing arrangements and costs entered into by the Cabinet Office in each of the last two years are shown in the table.
	
		£
		
			  Entered into in financial year 2003/04 Entered into in financial year 2002/03 Total 
		
		
			 Mobile telephones 12,974 11,830 24,804 
			 Photocopiers 131,072 561,279 692,351 
			 Laptops 31,296 748,440 779,736 
			 Telephony 36,000 70,014 106,014 
			 Total 211,342 1,391,563 1,602,905

Invoice Payments

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the average length of time was between the date of invoices issued to her Department from a supplier and payment by the Department of the invoice in the last 12 months for which figures are available; what percentage of those invoices were paid within 30 days of the date of issue of the invoice; what percentage of those invoices remained unpaid after 90 days; and if she will make a statement on the Department's policy on the payment of invoices issued to it.

David Miliband: Cabinet Office is a signatory to the Better Payment Practice Group, a partnership between public and private sectors, formed to improve the payment culture of the UK business community and reduce the incidence of the late payment of commercial debt. The Cabinet Office has procurement and payment procedures in place to promote payment within contractual terms and to ensure awareness of late payment legislation. Cabinet Office policy is that all invoices not in dispute should be paid within 30 days of receipt (or otherwise if specified as part of the contract.)
	Cabinet Office and its agencies achieved payment of 97.79 per cent. of its invoices within its target for the period April 2003 to April 2004.
	Of the 2.21 per cent. invoices paid late, 52 per cent. related to disputed invoices. We are unable to provide the age analysis of the remaining 48 per cent. except at disproportionate cost.
	Comparable payment performance for the period September 2003 to September 2004 showed an increase in the number of invoices paid within the target.
	During this period 97.86 per cent. of invoices paid within 30 days. 76 per cent. of the 2.14 per cent. invoices paid late were disputed invoices. We are unable to provide the age analysis of the remaining 24 per cent. without disproportionate costs.

IT Projects

George Osborne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list Cabinet Office IT projects in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) amount spent, (b) purpose, (c) cost of overrun and (d) time of overrun.

David Miliband: Information relating to information technology projects for each year since 1997 is not held centrally and is not separately identifiable in the Department's accounting systems. It cannot therefore be readily retrieved without incurring disproportionate cost.

Pay Television Subscriptions

George Osborne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many pay television subscriptions the Department had in each year since 1997; and what the cost was in each year.

David Miliband: The Cabinet Office had one pay television subscription in 1997–98. This increased to three in 1998–99; four in 2001–02 and six in 2004–05. The costs are shown in the table.
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1997–98 1,309 
			 1998–99 2,068.56 
			 1999–2000 2,494.56 
			 2000–01 2,778.56 
			 2001–02 4,143.56 
			 2002–03 2,812.56 
			 2003–04 2,714.56 
			 2004–05 6,104.68

Press Officers

George Osborne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many press officers are employed in the Cabinet Office.

David Miliband: At April 2004 there were 7.5 press officers employed in the Cabinet Office press office. The .5 refers to an official whose duties were split between two roles, one being a part-time press officer.
	The Cabinet Office press office numbers also include the press secretary to the Leader of the House of Commons and the press secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Conferences

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from his Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID officials organise and attend many conferences both in the UK and in other countries. DFID has no central source that could provide the information required by this question without incurring a disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure/Equipment

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on (a) indoor bought plants, (b) indoor hired plants, (c) outdoor bought plants and (d) outdoor hired plants in each year since 1997.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Amounts spent on plants by DFID over the period in question are as follows:
	
		£
		
			  Indoor purchased Outdoor purchased Indoor hired Outdoor hired 
		
		
			 1997–98 0 0 0 0 
			 1998–99 1,758 0 0 0 
			 1999–2000 2,049 2,538 0 0 
			 2000–01 3,203 0 0 0 
			 2001–02 63,785 0 270 0 
			 2002–03 10,198 141 0 0 
			 2003–04 16,198 0 0 0 
		
	
	Expenditure in 2001–02 was primarily due to refurbishment of our new Palace Street London headquarters, which included purchase of plants.
	All expenditure incurred in the purchase and procurement of services and items is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.

Departmental Expenditure/Equipment

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on (a) new furniture and (b) hired furniture in each year since 1997.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has spent the following amounts on furniture in the UK since 1997:
	
		£
		
			  New furniture Hired furniture 
		
		
			 1997–98 80,322 0 
			 1998–99 189,753 0 
			 1999–2000 213,259 0 
			 2000–01 245,784 0 
			 2001–02 1,224,854 0 
			 2002–03 698,779 0 
			 2003–04 370,180 1,577 
		
	
	Much of our expenditure on furniture in recent years has been associated with the refurbishment of our main UK buildings (including moving to a new London headquarters at the beginning of 2002), and has been spent on modern, smaller, workstations suited for open plan environments and flexible working arrangements such as hot-desking.
	All expenditure incurred in the purchase and procurement of services and items is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.

Departmental Expenditure/Equipment

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on lighting in each year since 1997.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Expenditure on lighting within DFID since 1997 has primarily formed part of the refurbishment works carried out on the three UK offices. The element relating to lighting, including rewiring, fittings, labour, etc., formed part of the overall project costs, and while precise figures are not available, the estimated costs of these components are as follows:
	1 Palace Street (Between 2000–01 and 2001–02): £1 million
	20 Victoria Street (During 2002–03): £40,000
	Abercrombie House, East Kilbride (Between 2002–03 and 2003–04): £1 million.
	All expenditure incurred in the purchase and procurement of services and items is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.

Departmental Expenditure/Equipment

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many items of electrical equipment were used by his Department in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) cost and (b) number of each type of item.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Electrical items are not purchased or recorded centrally and therefore precise numbers, and the overall cost of such items, is not readily available and cannot be obtained without incurring a disproportionate cost. However, estimated numbers of the main categories of electrical items currently in use in the UK are as follows:
	IT (PCs, Screens, Printers, cabling, etc): 4,250 separate items
	Heaters and fans: 150 items
	Kitchen equipment (microwaves, fridges, etc): 72 items
	TV and Video equipment: 60 items
	Calculators: 300 items
	Photocopiers and Shredders: 70 items

European Development Fund

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the (a) study awards to and (b) activities undertaken by (i) AEC, (ii) AGRER and (iii) GTZ referred to in the latest audit report of the European Development Fund.

Hilary Benn: Under EDF6, contracts for management of technical assistance and study scholarship awards were concluded by open tender. Successful tendering organisations were GTZ (Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit—the German development co-operation implementing organisation), AEC (Association Europeenne des Conservatoires—a Commission-established cultural and educational network) and AGRER (providing studies and assistance in development assistance project implementation). Some Commission Delegations in partner countries also managed these schemes directly.
	Advances were paid to Delegations in European Development Fund (EDF) partner-countries and to managing organisations in Europe as part of the normal system of financing scholarships, managing technical assistance and making payments to students.
	The Commission is winding up the contracts with GTZ and AGRER. AEC is in liquidation. The advances were partially settled in 2004 (and this will appear next year in the Communication on the 2004 accounts) and further settlement will continue in 2005. Department for International Development officials are in touch with the Commission over closure of these contracts and settlement of advances.

European Development Fund

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the doubtful debts from the Congolese account referred to in the latest audit report of the European Development Fund.

Hilary Benn: A portion of a European Development Fund (EDF) beneficiary country's allocation is deposited in a local national state bank account for disbursal on the authority of the National Authorising Officer (NAO) with approval of the European Community (EC) Head of Delegation. When the 9th EDF became operational in April 2003, all previous EDFs were consolidated into EDF9. Upon consolidation £2.744 million allocated to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from previous EDFs remained as a full unspent balance in a local account.
	When the November 2004 report of the accounts for the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th European Development Funds (EDF) for the financial year 2003 was being prepared, the European Commission was unable to obtain information on the unspent balance from the Banque Centrale du Congo. As there had been no Commission presence in the country since 1996, in accordance with the "prudence" principle in accounting, the Commission decided to provide in full for a potential loss.
	However, the Commission has since been able to confirm that all the funds are still at its disposal in the original bank account. This has been confirmed in writing by the bank. In effect, therefore, the full amount concerned has now been recovered. The recovered funds will revert for reallocation within the DRC's current EDF programme.

Iraq

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what UK development aid has been given to Iraq in each of the last five years; what the planned level of aid is for the next two years; and what percentage of his Department's budget that aid represented in each of those years.

Hilary Benn: DFID assistance to Iraq for the last five financial years, and its percentage of total DFID public spending, was:
	
		
			  £ million Percentage 
		
		
			 1999–2000 6.6 0.23 
			 2000–01 9.5 0.31 
			 2001–02 7.8 0.24 
			 2002–03 18.9 0.52 
			 2003–04 209.3 5.30 
		
	
	All assistance to Iraq before 2003–04 was provided through UN agencies and civil society organisations. No aid was provided to the Government of Iraq during that period.
	DFID's current plans for spending on Iraq, and percentage of planned DFID total public spending, are:
	
		
			  £ million Percentage 
		
		
			 2004–05 91 2.37 
			 2005–06 86 1.87 
		
	
	Total European Community assistance to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 was £318.5 million, 18 per cent. of which is attributed to the UK aid budget.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether departmental special advisers have written to external (a) bodies and (b) individuals in their official capacity since May 1997.

Hilary Benn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, (Ruth Kelly) on 14 December 2004, Official Report, column 1004W.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on how many occasions between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 his special advisers travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost.

Hilary Benn: I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave him on 1 September 2003, Official Report, column 880W.

Tsunami Relief

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid has been provided to Sri Lanka by way of relief after the tsunami; how much of that aid has been distributed (a) to predominantly Tamil areas and (b) to predominantly Singhalese areas; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID's humanitarian response has been channelled through United Nations agencies, the Red Cross movement, non-governmental organisations and direct interventions aimed at addressing urgent requirements and in support of the United Nations assessment, information dissemination and coordination role. We have provided three airlifts to help deliver UK non-governmental organisations' relief items, airlifted tents and tarpaulins from our stockpile and deployed six personnel to support the relief effort. The assistance that we have provided and are supporting is geographically spread throughout the country and reaches Tamil, Muslim and Singhalese areas in proportion to their needs.

Tsunami Relief

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he is making to the Sri Lankan Government concerning its refusal to allow Kofi Annan to visit Tamil areas affected by the tsunami; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has not been asked by the United Nations to make any representations to the Sri Lankan Government.

Tsunami Relief

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to ensure aid to Sri Lanka after the tsunami is being distributed to Tamil areas; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID's humanitarian response has been channelled through United Nations agencies, the Red Cross movement, non-governmental organisations and direct interventions aimed at addressing urgent requirements and in support of the United Nations assessment, information dissemination and co-ordination role. This includes substantial support to Tamil areas in proportion to needs across the country. Our humanitarian advisers in country are monitoring the international response to ensure that aid is getting to all in need.

Tsunami Relief

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he has discussed with the relevant national and international bodies the possibility of individual communities devastated by the Asian earthquake being adopted by communities in the UK to raise funds for the rebuilding of a specific community; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The Secretary of State for International Development recently visited Indonesia and Sri Lanka, where he met with representatives of the respective Governments and of UN agencies and major NGOs. The Governments of the countries affected are leading and co-ordinating the response to this disaster, both on immediate relief and longer term reconstruction, working together with the United Nations, the World Bank, and other agencies. The UK will be following up its immediate humanitarian response with longer-term support, working within the framework set out by the Governments concerned. It is of course important that longer term reconstruction in the areas affected is properly coordinated so as to be as effective as possible.
	The most immediate way that local communities in the UK can assist is by contributing to appeals by humanitarian agencies. Where there is an existing link with an affected community overseas it makes good sense to build on that relationship by offering support to the overseas community. Where no such relationship currently exists, there may well be further scope for developing twinning arrangements with the aim of providing practical support.
	A first step for UK communities wishing to be involved with local communities in the recovery effort would be to consult the relevant UK Embassies and High Commissions, and UK-based community organisations of the countries affected. Most have websites giving details of the most practical and effective ways of supporting the relief and reconstruction effort. DFID is in direct contact with the Governments and agencies concerned and provides details of how individuals and organisations in the UK can help through our website: www.dfid.gov.uk.
	Since the disaster, we are in contact with the Local government association about how UK local authorities might be able to work with local municipalities and authorities in the countries affected by the tsunami. Local councils and authorities are eligible to apply to DFID's Civil Society Challenge Fund, which aims to help poor and excluded people to enhance their capacity to organise, and get their voices heard and to demand better services and better access to them.

Tsunami Relief

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to ensure that the reconstruction of areas affected by the tsunami is carried out in such a way as to build in extra protection from (a) future such events and (b) flooding caused by climate change.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID will work with the governments of the countries affected by the tsunami to ensure that disaster risk reduction measures are integral to the reconstruction of the devastated areas. I plan to discuss these issues with representatives of the governments concerned at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction later this month.

Tsunami Relief

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps are being taken to co-ordinate the work of the UK Government with non-governmental organisations on the tsunami disaster relief effort.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has been in daily contact with British non-governmental organisations since the disaster struck. The Secretary of State for International Development and I met with representatives of the Disasters Emergencies Committee on 31 December and the Prime Minister and I had further discussions with them on 5 January. DFID officials hold weekly meetings with a wider group of non-governmental organisations to share operational information. We will continue to keep in close touch with non-governmental organisations here in the UK and through DFID's Country Offices during the relief phase and ensure that we maintain these strong contacts as we enter the recovery phase.

Tsunami Relief

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps are being taken to monitor effectiveness of spending of donations by (a) the Government and (b) the public to the tsunami disaster relief efforts.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has standard procedures for monitoring the effectiveness of the assistance it provides that involve careful assessment of need and considered targeting of our response from the outset. DFID sent humanitarian advisers to the region to ensure funding decisions were based on good assessment and information and were part of a co-ordinated effort. The monitoring of our assistance is supported by DFID's Country Offices. We will be following up our response with an evaluation of its effectiveness.
	DFID does not monitor the effectiveness of public contributions to the relief effort. The main non-governmental organisations have their own procedures for monitoring the effectiveness of their individual responses and members of the Disasters and Emergencies Committee (DEC) are committed to subsequent evaluation of their response, for each DEC public appeal.

Vulnerable Children/HIV/AIDS

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will discuss with other (a) G8 and (b) EU member states making orphans and vulnerable children a priority during 2005.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Our Presidencies of the G8 and the EU present an important opportunity to take action to bring the world together to make further progress to tackle HIV and AIDS.
	The UK has two priorities for the G8 summit: Africa and Climate Change. DFID shall make AIDS a centrepiece of our Presidencies of the G8 and EU in 2005, and focus on AIDS at high level UN-General Assembly events, in the context of our strong commitment to Africa. The two key priorities for Ads this year are bringing the world together to tackle AIDS and maintaining HIV prevention momentum.
	We have asked the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to work with us to develop a plan of action to realise high-level, time-bound and concrete commitments to ensure delivery of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) Declaration at country level. In early 2005, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the UK will co-host a high-level meeting, "Making the Money Work", to agree an action plan, within the Three Ones' concept, to underpin future co-operation between developing countries and their partners. The aim of "Making the Money Work" is to achieve consensus on ways of stepping up the response to AIDS in the most affected countries and making sure that national governments can drive forward the action they need to take with the support of international partners.
	We will also be hosting the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's second replenishment conference in September 2005. This meeting will be held alongside a broader AIDS funding meeting, building on the March event, which aims to close the financing gap for AIDS.
	By the end of 2005, DFID intends to have agreement among donors and the international system on a harmonized and funded plan to tackle AIDS so that we can move forward on treatment, prevention, care for orphans and vulnerable children as well as research into better treatments, vaccines and microbicides.

Vulnerable Children/HIV/AIDS

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions his Department has had with other (a) agencies and (b) governments on endorsing and adopting the UNAIDS/UNICEF strategic framework on orphans and vulnerable children during the global forum.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: In July this year, DFID was one of the first bilateral development agencies, along with he Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to endorse the UNAIDS/UNICEF Framework for the protection, care and support of orphans and vulnerable children living in a world with HIV/AIDS. Since then we have taken every opportunity to promote its use with governments and other organisations working to provide protection, care and support to children affected by AIDS.
	In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, our country programme teams have been engaged with the rapid assessment, analysis and action plan process. This has resulted in 16 national action plans for orphans and vulnerable children being developed. These are based on the Framework guidance.
	On 16 December 2004, I spoke at the Global Partners Forum on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Washington (a copy of the speech is available in the Library of the House). The Global Partners Forum provided a good opportunity for policy dialogue with other agencies. There was discussion with the World Bank, which is developing work on vulnerable children around social protection, and with representatives from the Netherlands and Norway on how we might work more closely with them in this field.
	The Global Partners Forum demonstrated that the Framework is widely accepted, even if not all agencies have officially endorsed it. The key issue now is ensuring it is put into practice. A good start has been made in sub-Saharan Africa. There and in Asia, DFID will be providing at least £150 million over the next three years to support national OVC responses guided by the Framework and working closely with international partners, in particular with UNICEF.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Conferences

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from his Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case.

Maria Eagle: The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Correspondence

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Totnes dated 26 October 2004 about Mr. Keith Morris of Paignton and child benefit dependency increases, which was transferred from the Treasury.

Maria Eagle: I have replied to the hon. Member today.

Departmental Expenditure

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost has been of criminal damage to his Department's buildings in each of the last two years.

Maria Eagle: No central records are kept and the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the running costs of the Department were in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) electricity, (b) water, (c) gas, (d) telephones, (e) mobile telephones and (f) televisions.

Maria Eagle: DWP was formed in June 2001 from the Department of Social Security (DSS) and parts of the former Department for Education and Employment, including the Employment Service (ES).
	The available information is in the table.
	
		Departmental running costs -- £000
		
			 Totals 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Electricity 6,743 7,503 6,170 7,661 7,897 7,478 9,061 
			 Water 1,553 1,701 1,392 1,534 1,736 1,516 1,868 
			 Gas 1,666 1,902 1,563 1,903 2,031 1,782 2,185 
			 Telephones 31,438 32,136 26,584 53,084 38,860 64,149 57,418 
			 Mobile Telephones n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,286 3,551 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures for years prior to 2001–02 refer to the former DSS and ES.
	2. Expenditure on mobile telephones was not collected separately prior to 2002–03.
	3. Information on expenditure on televisions is not collected separately.

Pensioners (Means-tested Benefits)

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the number of pensioners in each region who are failing to claim means-tested income top-up.

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the form requested. The most recent direct information on take-up levels of the minimum income guarantee can be found in the Department's report "Income Related Benefits: Estimates of Take-Up in 2001–2002", which is available in the Library. Corresponding estimates for 2002–03 are expected to be released later this month. Estimates of take-up in 2003–04 will cover the first six months of pension credit, which replaced the minimum income guarantee, and are expected to be released in late 2005.
	Indicative, broad-brush estimates of pension credit eligibility at national and Government Office Region levels, based on 2002–03 Family Resources Survey data projected forward to 2004–05, are currently being revised consistent with pre-Budget report assumptions. The revised estimates will be available later this month.

Pensions

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) men aged 60 to 64, (b) men aged 55 to 59, (c) men aged 50 to 54, (d) women aged 55 to 59 and (e) women aged 50 to 54 were contracted out of the state second pension into either an appropriate personal pension or a stakeholder pension in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement on the distribution of earnings within each group.

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following tables.
	
		Number of men and women contracted out with an appropriate personal pension or stakeholder pension aged 50 and over
		
			  Appropriate  personal pension Stakeholder  pension 
			 Age group Men Women Men Women 
		
		
			 50 to 59 476,000 89,000 (5)2,000 (5)1,000 
			 60 to 64 19,000 — — — 
		
	
	(5) Figures are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should be used only as a guide.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are based on scheme membership at the end of the 2002–03 tax year, the latest year for which the information is available.
	2. They include those with earnings below the LEL (for example people on a career break or who are unemployed) who would not qualify for an age-related rebate for the 2002–03 tax year.
	Source:
	"Second Tier Pension Provision" published by the Department for Work and Pensions using the Lifetime Labour Market Database which uses a 1 per cent. sample of national insurance records.
	
		Earnings distribution of men and women of all age groups contracted out with an appropriate personal pension or stakeholder pension
		
			  Appropriate  personal pension Stakeholder  pension 
			 Earnings distribution Men Women Men Women 
		
		
			 Up to £4,999 1,354,000 1,070,000 (6)7,000 (6)5,000 
			 £5,000 to £9,999 202,000 238,000 (6)4,000 (6)6,000 
			 £10,000 to £14,999 376,000 237,000 9,000 11,000 
			 £15,000 to £19,999 495,000 168,000 10,000 (6)5,000 
			 £20,000 to £24,999 393,000 102,000 9,000 (6)5,000 
			 £25,000 to 29,999 289,000 70,000 7,000 (6)2,000 
			 £30,000 and over 364,000 69,000 8,000 (6)2,000 
		
	
	(6) Figures are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should be used only as a guide.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are based on scheme membership at the end of the 2002–03 tax year, the latest year for which the information is available.
	2. They include those with earnings below the LEL (for example people on a career break or who are unemployed) who would not qualify for an age-related rebate for the 2002–03 tax year.
	Source:
	"Second Tier Pension Provision" published by the Department for Work and Pensions using the Lifetime Labour Market Database which uses a 1 per cent. sample of national insurance records.

Quangos

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent by his Department in each year since 1997 on taskforces and similar bodies.

Maria Eagle: Since 1997 the Department has established two taskforces, the Employers Task Force on Pensions in June 2003 and the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force in September 2003. It is not possible to disaggregate expenditure on taskforces from the overall administrative running costs of the Department.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 his special advisers travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost.

Maria Eagle: All travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
	Departmental special advisers travelled abroad on one occasion to Boston and Washington, USA at a cost of £4,900.00.

Winter Fuel Allowance

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners did not receive winter fuel allowance payments in 2004 in (a) England and (b) each local authority area due to administrative errors; when such pensioners can expect to receive their entitlement; if he will make it his policy to pay interest on delayed payments based upon the time elapsed between the date on which the payment should have been made and the date when the payment is actually received; and what steps he is taking to prevent further such problems from occurring.

Malcolm Wicks: 11.5 million pensioners were sent their winter fuel payments before Christmas as planned. 4,503 of these payments could not be delivered. We are investigating these but most could not be delivered because customers had failed to report changes to either their address or bank account. The final date for claims to be received is 30 March 2005. We expect to have sent the last payments by early June.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

MPs' Children

John Mann: To ask the Leader of the House what estimate he has made of the number of hon. Members who (a) have children at school and (b) have children at school within or near to their constituency.

Peter Hain: This information is not held centrally.

Rail Season Tickets

John Mann: To ask the Leader of the House what assessment has been made of the merits of providing hon. Members with annual rail season tickets.

Peter Hain: I understand that hon. Members are encouraged to take advantage of annual rail season tickets where these provide value for money.
	I refer the hon. Member to Paragraph 7.1.14 of the Green Book on Parliamentary Salaries, Allowances and Pensions. This explains that Members can claim rail season tickets to Westminster if they make, or expect to make, four return journeys per week to Westminster during sitting weeks. I suggest that Members who have other patterns of parliamentary travel and believe that a season ticket would provide value for money should discuss their needs with the Department of Finance and Administration.

WALES

E-mails

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on his Department's policy regarding the retention of e-mails in electronic form (a) after and (b) up to 1 January 2005; and what instructions have been given regarding the deletion of e-mails prior to 1 January 2005.

Peter Hain: The Wales Office continues to implement well established policies and procedures for the review and disposal of files in accordance with its administrative needs and the Public Records Act.
	E-mail messages that form part of the official record are saved for as long as business needs require and stored corporately in accordance with departmental record management procedures. Further e-mail guidance is available on the National Archives website at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/electronicrecords/advice/pdf/managing emails.pdf.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 his special advisers travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost.

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 8 September 2003, Official Report, column 38W.
	All travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the guidelines set out in the "Ministerial Code" and the "Civil Service Management Code".

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Arms Exports (Indonesia)

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what amount is outstanding from the sale of (a) Scorpion and Stormer vehicles and (b) Hawk jets to Indonesia; and over what period payments are due to be made.

Douglas Alexander: holding answer 21 December 2004
	The amounts outstanding as at December 2004 were:
	(a) Scorpion and Stormer vehicles—£80.7 million
	(b) Hawk jets—£382.7 million.
	Through the Paris Club, Indonesian debt has been rescheduled under three agreements. The last payment is due in June 2021.

Business Support Initiatives

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2004, Official Report, column 465W, on Business Support Initiatives, what core UK Trade and Investment services are (a) free and (b) subsidised; and at what cost to the Government.

Douglas Alexander: Advice and information made available through UKTI's website, information centre and inquiry service is free. UKTI's Export Communications Review Scheme, Market Visit Support, Inward Mission Scheme, and Solo Show Support are subsidised. Two UKTI products—OMIS (Overseas Market Introduction Service) and NPFB (New Products from Britain) are chargeable, but at highly subsidised rates to customers.
	UKTI's products are paid for through its programme budget, currently around £100 million. Some four-fifths of this is estimated to go on support delivered directly to individual companies. There are also administration costs associated with delivery of the services concerned.

Departmental Expenditure

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the running costs of the Department were in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) electricity, (b) water, (c) gas, (d) telephones, (e) mobile telephones and (f) televisions.

Jacqui Smith: The running costs for DTI HQ estate in respect of utilities since 1997 is based on available information. The figures are as follows.
	
		
			  Electricity (£000) Water (£000) Gas (£000) 
		
		
			 2003–04 957 90 137 
			 2002–03 942 137 103 
			 2001–02 855 137 121 
			 2000–01 929 171 115 
			 1999–2000 1,036 165 100 
			 1998–99 917 151 108 
			 1997–98 1,065 n/a 108 
		
	
	
		
			  Telephony (£000) Mobile telephony(7) (£000) 
		
		
			 2003 3,898 410 
			 2002 3,792 343 
			 2001 3,668 343 
			 2000 3,477 227 
			 1999 2,837 263 
			 1998 3,099 91 
		
	
	(7) Centrally managed contracts.
	(f) Televisions. Information is not held centrally.

Fast Patrol Vessel Defender

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress the Government office for the east of England, in conjunction with her Department, has made in ascertaining details of the acquisition, whereabouts and condition of the Fast Patrol Vessel Defender, donated by the Sultan of Oman to Lowestoft.

Douglas Alexander: The Government office has been informed of the condition of the vessel by Lowestoft Maritime Defence Museum Ltd., and that it has been sold. The company has reported that the condition of the vessel had deteriorated, and has provided a marine surveyor's assessment from December 2003 with details. The company has explained that it considered that maintenance of the vessel was not economically viable and decided to sell it.

Minimum Wage

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in Pendle received the minimum wage in each year since its introduction.

Gerry Sutcliffe: It is unlikely that figures will be obtainable for Pendle due to small sample size.
	The latest low pay data from the ONS show that 1.1 million people in the UK stood to benefit from the October 2004 uprating of the national minimum wage. The DTI will provide estimates of national minimum wage beneficiaries by region as soon as possible. These figures will be made available in the Libraries of the House.

Minimum Wage

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in Coventry received the minimum wage in each year since its introduction.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 20 December 2004
	It is unlikely that figures will be obtainable for Coventry due to small sample size.
	The latest low pay data from the ONS show that 1.1 million people in the UK stood to benefit from the October 2004 uprating of the National Minimum Wage. The DTI will provide estimates of National Minimum Wage beneficiaries by region as soon as possible. These figures will be made available in the Libraries of the House.

Minimum Wage

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many workers in Bolton, North-East have benefited from the national minimum wage.

Gerry Sutcliffe: It is unlikely that figures will be obtainable for Bolton North East due to small sample size.
	The latest low pay data from the ONS show that 1.1 million people in the UK stood to benefit from the October 2004 uprating of the National Minimum Wage. The DTI will provide estimates of National Minimum Wage beneficiaries by region as soon as possible. These figures will be made available in the Libraries of the House.

Minimum Wage

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people have benefited from the introduction of the National Minimum Wage in each year since its introduction in (a) Stroud, (b) Gloucestershire and (c) South West England.

Gerry Sutcliffe: It is unlikely that figures will be obtainable for Stroud and Gloucestershire due to small sample size.
	The latest low pay data from the ONS show that 1.1 million people in the UK stood to benefit from the October 2004 uprating of the National Minimum Wage. The DTI will provide estimates of National Minimum Wage beneficiaries by region as soon as possible. These figures will be made available in the Libraries of the House.

Retired Miners' Concessionary Fuel Schemes

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what the (a) total cost and (b) number of beneficiaries of the retired miners' concessionary fuel scheme was in each year since 1997, broken down by (i) solid fuel and (ii) cash-in-lieu of solid fuel;
	(2)  what the level of entitlement to concessionary fuel is for each of the client groups entitled to receive it under the retired miners' scheme; and what the cash-in-lieu rates are.

Nigel Griffiths: There are two main agreements in force the first of which is the National Concessionary Fuel Agreement that covers former mineworkers, clerical staff, officials and weekly paid industrial staff and the second of which is for former managerial grades of the British Coal Corporation—the British Association of Colliery Managers (BACM) agreement.
	
		
			  Average annual tonnage Cash rates (£) from 1 October 2004 
		
		
			 National concessionary fuel agreement 
			 Full Householder level 4.2 276.52 
			 Quasi Householder level 2.8 184.34 
			 Sub Householder level 1.4 92.18 
			 B.A.C.M.   
			 Full Householder Level 3.1 621.37 
			 Quasi Householder level 2.05 466.03 
			 Special rate of Cash in Lieu  92.18 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The Full Householder level of entitlement typically covers a three main room property where the beneficiary and his spouse are the sole owners or tenants of the property.
	2. The Quasi Householder level of entitlement typically covers a two main room property where the beneficiary and his spouse are the owners or tenants of the property.
	3. The Sub Householder level typically covers bedsit type properties or where the beneficiary has moved to live with relatives or, in the case of cash in lieu, has moved into residential care.
	4. The special rate of Cash in lieu is paid where the beneficiary lives with relatives or in residential care.
	5. The annual entitlement of fuel for any given beneficiary will vary according to the coalfield region he was previously employed in and the type of fuel burnt e.g. house coal, Anthracite, coke etc

Supermarkets

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she plans to publish the Office of Fair Trading audit following its February 2004 report into the operation of the Supermarket Code of Practice; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 20 December 2004
	As I said in my answer to the hon. Member's question on 7 December 2004, Official Report, column 476W, this is a matter for the Chairman of the OFT and I have asked him to write to the hon. Member directly.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive

Martin Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations have been made by her Department to the European Commission in relation to the introduction of individual producer responsibility and the use of financial guarantees in relation to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive; and what responses have been received.

Mike O'Brien: The Department has provided the Commission with its draft implementing Regulations for the EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, on which it consulted last autumn. Officials from the Department have discussed these issues with the Commission and other member states, including at meetings of the Technical Adaptation Committee. However, the Commission has taken no position in advance of receiving notification of transposing legislation.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive

Martin Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the approaches of the (a) French and (b) German Governments to implementation of individual producer responsibility under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

Mike O'Brien: The French and German Governments have produced draft framework legislation for their national implementations of the EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. It remains to be seen how individual producer responsibility will be implemented in detailed, practical terms.

Renewable Energy

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to attend conferences which highlight the alternatives to wind power.

Patricia Hewitt: I will be attending the Marine Renewable Energy Conference on 3 March. You will also be aware that I opened the British Hydro Conference, which was hosted by the DTI, held in December and attended the Investing in Wave and Tidal Energy Seminar in November.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Census Records

Mike Hancock: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to his answer of 15 December 2004, Official Report, column 1204W, on census records, if he will place in the Library the full text of the Advisory Council on Public Records and Archives (ACPRA) October 1998 statement about the closure of census records; what advice he has received from the ACPRA about the closure period for future censuses; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Leslie: Following its meeting in December 1998, the Advisory Council set out its position on this matter as follows:
	"The Council considered the appropriateness of the closure period of 100 years which applied to the decennial census of population. It concluded that since undertakings of confidentiality had been given in the past by successive governments to people making returns, any reduction in the closure period for censuses up to that taken in 1991 would be a breach of confidence. It also felt, however, that a shorter period, of 80 years for instance, might be appropriate for future censuses."
	The Advisory Council's conclusion was published in its annual report for 1998–99. A copy of this, together with the annual report of the Keeper of Public Records, is available in the Library.
	In December 2003 the Council considered the matter again and concluded that it had no reason to alter its previous advice.

Census Records

Mike Hancock: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what advice he has received from the Advisory Council on Public Records and Archives on the availability of census records under the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Leslie: In December 2003 The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives reaffirmed its views on the release of decennial census returns that were published in 1998–99. It has not considered the implications of the Freedom of Information Act for this issue.

Confidential Waste

Norman Baker: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what volume of shredded confidential waste has been disposed of in each year of his Department's existence.

David Lammy: holding answer 10 January 2005
	My Department does not hold a central record of the volume of confidential waste disposed that is shredded. Such information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure

George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent by the Department on lighting in each year since 1997.

David Lammy: This information is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Ethnic Minorities

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment he has made of the extent to which his Department's policies meet the needs of ethnic minorities.

David Lammy: The Department is committed to providing equal opportunities for all, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, transgender, sexuality, disability, age, religion, race, marital status, working patterns and/or caring responsibilities.
	In compliance with the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department, set out a comprehensive strategy to promote race equality in carrying out its functions, in the DCA's Race Equality Scheme published on 31 May 2002. The Race Equality Scheme is currently under review and will be implemented in May 2005.
	The Department is now engaged in a major programme of diversity change, to ensure that our work meets the needs of ethnic minority clients and staff.
	In February 2004, "Minority Report", a review of DCA diversity structures and strategy, was published. The Report set out 15 key recommendations in relation to improving DCA performance in diversity, which are being implemented as part of our new Diversity Agenda Programme (DAP). Two of the key projects in this programme are:
	Developing Policy and Strategy
	Compliance with Legislation
	The Compliance with Legislation and Developing Policy strands of the DAP will provide the framework for a continuous programme of consultation, assessment and implementation of policies. We will be applying Race Impact assessments to ensure that the Department's policies meet the needs of black and minority ethnic communities.
	The benefits of the DAP will be realized by the whole Department, including the magistrates courts, by supporting work against our PSA targets and supporting the DCA's five-year strategy.

European Data Protection Supervisor

John Hayes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the (a) mandate and (b) powers of the European Data Protection Supervisor in respect of information required to be collected under European Communities legislation.

Christopher Leslie: The European Data Protection Supervisor is the independent supervisory body entrusted with monitoring the application, to Community institutions and bodies, of Community instruments relating to the protection of natural persons as regards the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data.
	The European Data Protection Supervisor's powers are set out in Article 47 of Regulation (EC) No. 45/2001. These include powers to order the rectification, blocking, erasure or destruction of all data when they have been processed in breach of the provisions governing the processing of personal data and the notification of such actions to third parties to whom the data have been disclosed; to refer a matter to the Community institution or body concerned and, if necessary, to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission; to intervene in actions brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities; and to obtain from a Community institution or body access to all personal data and to all information necessary for his or her enquiries.

Magistrates

John Mann: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what percentage of magistrates are from (a) manual trade backgrounds and (b) social class A on the latest date for which figures are available.

Christopher Leslie: A survey of active magistrates was carried out in May 2004 to identify the make-up of the magistracy with a view to using the data received to aid recruitment and improve the diversity of the Bench. Some 78 per cent. of magistrates responded to the survey. They self-classified themselves in the following categories, which are based on Labour Force Survey definitions:
	
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 Managers and senior officials 28 
			 Professional occupations 34 
			 Associate professional and technical 13 
			 Administrative and secretarial 13 
			 Skilled trades and occupations 4 
			 Personal services occupations 2 
			 Sales and customer services 3 
			 Process plant and machine operatives 1 
			 Other occupations 1

Parliamentary Questions

Julian Lewis: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs when he will reply to the question tabled on 3 December 2004, by the hon. Member for New Forest, East, ref 203344.

Christopher Leslie: I replied to the hon. Member for New Forest on 11 January.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bahrain

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Bahrain concerning human rights since 2002; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: We are in regular contact with the Bahraini Government on human rights issues, and follow developments in Bahrain closely. We are aware that there is still work to be done but we welcome the progress Bahrain is making in promoting and protecting human rights. We continue to support the King's continuing programme of reform.

China

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of China regarding (a) the recent actions taken against house churches in China and (b) the imprisonment of Christians, with particular reference to Pastor Zhang Rongliang and Pastor Cai Zhuohua.

Bill Rammell: We are deeply concerned about religious freedom in China and monitor the situation closely.
	At the latest round of the UK China Human Rights Dialogue, held in Beijing on 22 November, we raised our concern that the prohibition of some religious and spiritual groups and the restrictions and harassment of others undermines freedom of religious belief in China.
	Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials also raised several concerns about religious freedom, including incidents of the mass arrests of religious practitioners in Xinjiang, Kaifeng and Wuhan with Wang Zuo'an, the Deputy Director General for the State Administration of Religious Affairs during his visit to the UK in September 2004.
	We are aware of Pastor Zhang's case and are concerned about his detention. We raised his case with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on 4 December and again on 23 December. The Dutch Presidency on behalf of the EU also wrote to the Chinese MFA on 22 December.
	We have asked our embassy in Beijing to make further enquiries about the case of Cai Zhuohua.

Departmental Credit Cards

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many credit cards for official expenditure are held by his Department.

Bill Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office currently has 210 cards in use in the UK.
	As our posts overseas have devolved financial authority we do not keep central records on the number of cards they hold. This figure could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Properties

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many properties are held by the Department; what total floor space these properties provide; how many properties are vacant; and how much floor space vacant properties comprise.

Bill Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) holds the following properties in the United Kingdom (none are vacant) with floor space as shown.
	
		
			  Square metres 
		
		
			 Main FCO Building, King Charles Street 39,000 
			 Old Admiralty Building 13,000 
			 1 Carlton Gardens 2,500 
			 Lancaster House 3,400 
			 Albert Embankment (shared with the Home Office) 1,300 
			 Apollo House, Croydon 3,100 
			 Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes 22,000 
			 Wiston House (Wilton Park Agency) 2,500 
			 Total 86,800 
		
	
	There are more than 4,300 properties of different kinds in the overseas estate. Day-to-day management of these is devolved to our overseas posts. Details of precise numbers, floor space and occupancy could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Electronic Devices

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many electronic devices are owned by the Department, broken down by type.

Bill Rammell: As at 31 March 2004, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's fixed asset register showed that it owns:
	798 items of technical equipment
	570 items of office machinery
	151 items of communications systems
	These items may be single or grouped assets with an individual value of £3,000 or more. A full record of electronic items of less than £3,000 in value held by the Department's global network of posts could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

E-mails

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his Department's policy regarding the retention of e-mails in electronic form (a) after and (b) up to 1 January 2005; and what instructions have been given regarding the deletion of e-mails prior to 1 January 2005.

Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Guildford (Sue Doughty) on 11 January 2005 (UIN 206760). There has been no change to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) policy on retention or deletion of e-mails since 1 January 2005. E-mails required for the official record are stored in the FCO's electronic records management system.

EU Conventions (Ratification)

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Conventions agreed by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe have not been ratified by the UK since 1997.

Bill Rammell: The UK has signed but not yet completed the ratification process of the following Council of Europe Conventions since 1997:
	Revised European social charter;
	Civil law convention on corruption;
	European convention on the promotion of a transnational long-term voluntary service for young people;
	Additional protocol to the European agreement on the transmission of applications for legal aid;
	Additional protocol to the Convention for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data, regarding supervisory authorities and transborder data flows;
	Second additional protocol to the European Convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters;
	Convention on cybercrime;
	Protocol amending the European convention on the suppression of terrorism;
	Convention for the protection of animals during international transport (revised);
	Protocol No 14 to European Convention on human rights, amending the control system.

EU Member States (Borders)

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those areas of (a) current and (b) prospective EU member states where border definition is in dispute.

Denis MacShane: Border definition (ie the demarcation of borders between two internationally recognised sovereign states with an adjoining territorial or maritime border) is politically disputed as follows:
	(a) Current EU states:
	Greece—Turkey (eastern Aegean)
	Ireland—UK (Lough Foyle, Carlingford Lough—quiescent)
	Portugal—Spain (Olivenza)
	Slovenia—Croatia (Piran Bay/Dragonja River and Sveta Gera/Trvdin Vrh)
	Spain—UK (Isthmus Gibraltar)
	Spain—Morocco (Ceuta, Melilla)
	(b) Prospective EU states (in addition to those listed above):
	Macedonia—Serbia and Montenegro (Kosovo: north west Shara Mountain region and Kudra Fura elevation)
	Romania—Ukraine (Serpent's Island)
	Turkey—Armenia
	In addition, Cyprus joined the EU as a divided island on 1 May 2004. The EU acquis is suspended in northern Cyprus which Turkey recognises as the so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus".

EU Sugar Regime

George Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department has undertaken studies of the possible impact of the proposed reform of the EU sugar regime on the internal security situation in Jamaica in relation to the flow of narcotics and illegal weapons to the United Kingdom.

Bill Rammell: We are aware of concerns about the implications of reform to the EU sugar regime for the Jamaican economy and society. We have discussed these concerns with the Jamaican Government at a senior level, and with other interested parties.
	In recognition of the impact that reform of the EU sugar regime will have on African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) sugar producers, the European Commission has undertaken to initiate dialogue with the affected ACP countries, including Jamaica, on the basis of an Action Plan. This will be used to define appropriate accompanying measures. These are likely to include financial assistance and help with diversification where restructuring and improvements in competitiveness in the sugar sector are not sustainable.

EU Sugar Regime

George Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department plans to discuss with the Jamaican Minister of National Security in January 2005 the possible effects upon the security situation in Jamaica of a drop in the price for sugar under the EU Sugar Regime.

Bill Rammell: The Jamaican Minister for National Security plans to visit the UK in January 2005. We expect discussions to cover cooperation with Jamaica and other Caribbean states on security matters, and to include the impact on Jamaica of reform to the EU Sugar Regime.

European Constitution

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to paragraph 17 of the Explanatory Memorandum on the EU constitutional treaty, if he will make a statement on the stopwatch start point for the six-week review period for Parliament; and how this power differs from existing mechanisms.

Denis MacShane: Under the subsidiarity mechanism set out in the EU constitutional treaty, the six-week review period would start from the date of transmission of a draft European legislative Act. This would ensure that national parliaments have an active voice in the EU's law making procedures at EU level for the first time. Article 7 of the Protocol on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality sets out how this would work in practice:
	"Each national Parliament shall have two votes, shared on the basis of the national Parliamentary system. In the case of a bicameral Parliamentary system, each of the two chambers shall have one vote.
	Where reasoned opinions on a draft European legislative act's non-compliance with the principle of subsidiarity represent at least one third of all the votes allocated to the national Parliaments in accordance with the second paragraph (above) the draft must be reviewed."
	In practice any proposal meeting such opposition would be very unlikely to prosper.

European Constitution

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which amendments proposed by the Government to the draft European constitution were not accepted during the Convention stage; and what the text was of the articles in question (a) in the text submitted by the Convention and (b) in the final text.

Denis MacShane: Full details of all amendments proposed during the Convention on the Future of Europe are available on the Convention website: www.european-convention.eu.int. The draft treaty published by the Convention, also on the website, includes those amendments which were accepted by the Convention. The final treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was placed in the Library of the House on 8 December 2004 (Command Paper 6429). The Government will shortly publish an analysis of the EU constitutional treaty indicating which parts of the EU constitution correspond to provisions in the existing treaties and which parts are new. Beyond this, the Government do not propose to further process this publicly available information, since it could be done only at disproportionate cost.

European Constitution

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the Presidencies that will exist under the European constitution; what budgets each will manage; how many civil servants each will have; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: The constitutional treaty provides for the replacement of the existing six-monthly rotating Presidency by a "Team Presidency" system. A European Council decision attached to the Treaty in a Declaration provides that all Councils (other than the Foreign Affairs Council) will be chaired by a team of three member states holding the Presidency for 18 months. The cost of each Presidency would continue to be met by the relevant host government(s) which would also continue to determine the number of civil servants it allocates to EU work during its Presidency. The Constitutional Treaty also introduces a new full time President of the European Council, to be elected by and accountable to the members of the European Council. Since the Treaty has not yet come into force, arrangements regarding funding and staffing of the Office of the President of the European Council have not yet been agreed.

European Constitution

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 21 December 2004, Official Report, column 1620W, on the EU Constitution, whether a possible reweighting of votes under the proposed EU Constitution was discussed with the German Chancellor by (a) the Prime Minister and (b) a Foreign Office Minister.

Denis MacShane: No.

Free Trade Area

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make the establishment of a free trade area including the EU and the US a priority for the UK Presidency of the EU.

Denis MacShane: The UK Government intend to take forward during its Presidency of the EU the work being undertaken to deepen the economic partnership between the EU and the US. At the EU-US summit in Ireland in June 2004, both sides committed themselves
	"to engage in a vigorous discussion of concrete ideas on how to further transatlantic economic integration to the fullest, spur innovation and job creation and better realise the competitive potential of our economies and enterprises"
	and to
	"develop a forward-looking strategy to enhance our economic partnership and eliminate barriers".
	Securing progress on the Doha Round of trade negotiations at the WTO ministerial meeting in December is a UK Government priority for 2005.

Greece

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what inquiries have been made of the Greek authorities by his Department about why the coroners office in Greece are confirming possession of only some of the organs of the late Russell Christopher Anderson of Birmingham; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mullin: Our consular staff maintained a regular dialogue with the Greek authorities during the investigation of Russell Anderson's case. In autumn 2003 they contacted the Greek pathologist who stated that he was holding parts of Russell's organs, but that the whole organs were no longer available. Our staff forwarded a letter to Mrs. Anderson on 13 November 2003 confirming this.
	During autopsies in Greece, organs can be removed for testing at the discretion of the doctor, without consent of the next of kin. Any organs removed are retained for the duration of the tests, after which they are normally destroyed. The Greek state does not recognise that organs, or parts of organs, removed in these circumstances belong to anyone other than the state, since they are removed and examined as part of a legal or criminal investigation.
	I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 15 December 2004, Official Report, column 1199W, which explained how Russell's family can apply for the return of the parts of his organs still held by the Greek authorities.

International Arms Treaty

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to promote the proposed international arms trade treaty.

Denis MacShane: The Government strongly believe that an international arms trade treaty should be negotiated. We are working to help build the broad international support which is necessary for negotiations to begin. We have already discussed the issue with other countries who have declared their support in principle for such a treaty, and others. We will continue to use our bilateral contacts and take action in multilateral fora where appropriate to pursue this objective.

International Arms Treaty

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what responses he has received from his international counterparts regarding the proposed international arms treaty.

Denis MacShane: Discussions with other countries with respect to an arms trade treaty are at an early stage. However, several countries have already expressed a clear interest in supporting a treaty.

International Arms Treaty

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether a timetable has been drawn up for the (a) agreement and (b) implementation of the proposed international arms treaty; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: No timetable for the agreement of an arms trade treaty has yet been agreed. The Government hope that negotiations could begin as soon as possible, once there is sufficient international support.

Kaliningrad

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy towards the future status of Kaliningrad.

Bill Rammell: The UK supports the EU's policy of pursuing constructive discussion with Russia on issues relating to Kaliningrad. The EU and Russia agreed joint statements on the Kaliningrad region on 11 November 2002 and 27 April 2004. Copies can be found at the following links:
	http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/summit_ 11_02/js_kalin.htm
	http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/russia_ docs/js_elarg_270404.htm
	The joint statements acknowledge the unique situation of the Kaliningrad region as part of the Russian Federation, but separated from the rest of the federation by other states, and agree to make a special effort to accommodate the concerns of both sides relating to the transit of persons and goods between the Kaliningrad region and other parts of Russia, and to intensify their co-operation to promote the social and economic development of the region as a whole. The UK supports the implementation of the commitments in the two joint statements.

Light Weapons Unit

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the nature of planned EU assistance to ECOWAS for the establishment of a light weapons unit; what the role of EU personnel will be in such assistance; which EU directorate will take the lead; from which budget line such funding will be taken; and what the likely UK components of that assistance will include.

Denis MacShane: To assist with the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) project the EU plans to give financial assistance to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) amounting to €515,000 and to second one project director. The project director will provide advice on SALW issues and prepare regional contacts for a seminar on the possible transformation of the ECOWAS Moratorium on SALW into a regional convention by the end of December 2005. The Commission will conclude a financing agreement with ECOWAS regarding the conditions of use of the European Union contribution, which shall be in the form of non-repayable aid. The project will be funded from the Common Foreign and Security budget line within the External Actions category—as such, member states will have the lead in overseeing the implementation of the project, supported by the Council Secretariat and in close co-operation with the Commission. The UK's share of the contribution from the Common Foreign and Security Policy budget will amount to €92,000.

Light Weapons Unit

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requirement there is for the EU contribution to ECOWAS for the establishment of a Light Weapons Unit to be separately accounted for in EU accounts.

Denis MacShane: For the project to be separately accounted for in the EU accounts, it would require the creation of a separate budget line. The Government see no need for a separate budget line for this specific project as the financial details are scrutinised by all member states prior to adoption. The EU contribution towards the small arms and light weapons project of the Economic Community of West African States will be financed from the non-proliferation projects line of the Common Foreign and Security Policy budget line, part of the external actions budget. The financial note detailing all financial expenditure was scrutinised by member states, and agreed by unanimity, who will retain oversight of the project. In addition, budget lines are created on a multi-annual basis for areas of activity not for individual projects.

Pay Television Subscriptions

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many pay television subscriptions the Department had in each year since 1997; and what the cost was in each year.

Bill Rammell: The majority of all pay television subscriptions are purchased overseas for the provision of 24-hour news coverage to the Department's global network of posts. On average, posts purchase two subscriptions each at an annual cost of £380 per subscription (2003–04 costs). The information is not held centrally but we estimate that the total costs for the UK and overseas to be around £200,000.

European Union (Qualified Majority Voting)

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many areas of unanimity have become subject to qualified majority voting decisions since 1 May 1997; and in how many areas unanimity is still required.

Denis MacShane: As stated in the White Paper on the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (CM 6309), qualified majority voting was extended to 16 new or existing areas by the Amsterdam treaty, which came into effect in May 1999, and further extended to 31 new or existing areas by the Nice treaty, which came into effect in February 2003. Unanimous agreement is still required for the most important decisions: for tax, social security, foreign policy, defence, and decisions on the financing of the EU affecting the British budget contribution. That remains true under the new constitutional treaty.

Sudan

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Sudanese authorities concerning the attack by the Government of Sudan air force on three villages east of Nyala in Darfur on 9 to 10 December and on one village south of Nyala on 7 December.

Chris Mullin: We condemn the recent attacks by the Government of Sudan in Darfur, which are a clear breach of the Abuja Security Protocol and the Government of Sudan's commitment to abide by UN Security Council resolutions. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development raised this issue on Thursday 16 December with the Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs, and our Ambassador in Khartoum has also raised the matter with the Acting Foreign Minister.

European Union (Whistleblowers)

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the UK Government have received (a) from and (b) concerning whistleblowers in European Union institutions.

Denis MacShane: On (a) , we are not aware of any such representations having been made.
	On (b) , many members of the public, as well as hon. Members of this House, and Peers in the House of Lords, have over the years expressed concern about issues which whistleblowers have raised and about the manner of their treatment by the EU institutions. We do not. however, hold a central register of such expressions of concern.
	The Government have responded to the issues involved in some whistleblowing cases by contributing actively to the development of the new (May 2004) European Communities Staff Regulations, which provide that an official shall not suffer any prejudicial effects from making a disclosure in accordance with the Regulations. This is a similar provision to provisions of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, which protect UK Crown employees who make disclosures in good faith.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Sugar Beet

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the possible effects of changes to sugar beet quotas on British farmers.

Margaret Beckett: The European Commission's preferred approach to sugar reform would involve price and quota cuts for beet growers in all member states. We are still awaiting detailed proposals, but have in the meantime published independent economic research illustrating some of the possible effects.

Climate Change Targets

Michael Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action she proposes to take to ensure that the UK meets all its climate change targets.

Margaret Beckett: The UK remains on course to achieve its Kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent. by 2008–12. The current review of the UK Climate Change Programme aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of the progress that the Government and the devolved Administrations have made towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions since the programme was published in 2000.

Fishing Industry (Scotland)

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the Scottish fishing industry.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, Ross Finnie and I met UK industry leaders in October. Mr. Finnie and I worked closely with industry representatives in the run-up to and during the recent Fisheries Council.

Waste Disposal

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her Department's landfill policy.

Elliot Morley: The Government are committed to reducing the UK's reliance on landfill, in order to reduce its environmental and potential public health impact and because landfilling is a missed opportunity to recover value from waste.

Waste Disposal

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of Government building targets in the south-east on her policy for waste disposal.

Elliot Morley: The Government's policy for sustainable waste management aims to break the link between economic growth and environmental degradation and resource use—in particular by pushing waste management up the waste hierarchy. The Government's housing targets for the south-east will have no direct impact on that policy.

Wildlife Conservation (West Midlands)

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many wildlife conservation sites are located in the west midlands.

Ben Bradshaw: There are 442 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the west midlands region covering more than 26,000 hectares. Of these sites, 22 are also European sites under the Birds and Habitats Directives; 16 are National Nature Reserves and there are 92 Local Nature Reserves in the region.

Horticulture Industry

David Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to assist the horticulture industry.

Ben Bradshaw: Defra funds a substantial research and development programme of benefit to horticulture. Growers are also eligible for assistance under the England rural development programme and many will benefit from the new single payment scheme.

Beekeeping

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research has been commissioned by her Department on diseases affecting the economic viability of beekeeping.

Ben Bradshaw: Since 2001, Defra has commissioned research on notifiable pests and diseases of bees worth about £760,000. Current projects include the development of biological control methods for varroa and rapid diagnostic tests for the small hive beetle. In addition, scientists at Defra's National Bee Unit have been developing the "shook swarm" treatment for European foul brood.

Beekeeping

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will instruct the National Bee Unit to issue advice to beekeepers on the effects of formic acid, lactic acid and oxalic acid on tackling the parasite Varroa Destructor in honey bees.

Alun Michael: All veterinary medicinal products are required to be authorised by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate before they can be marketed or administered in the UK. Currently, neither oxalic acid nor formic acid may be legally administered to treat honey bees. However, certain regulatory exemptions from the requirement for authorisation allow veterinary surgeons to prescribe lactic acid to be administered in the treatment of bees.
	The National Bee Unit is currently updating its advisory literature on the management of Varroa Destructor, and is liaising with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate about the guidance that may be given to beekeepers on the use of acids and other chemicals to control infestations of this mite.

Abandoned Vehicles

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if her Department will assess the merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to give local authorities the power to recover the costs of removal of abandoned vehicles from the last registered owner; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: The Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 entitles local authorities to recover from the relevant person the costs of removing and disposing of an abandoned vehicle.
	In addition, the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environmental Bill will give an authorised officer of a local authority the power to issue a fixed penalty notice of £200 in respect of an offence of abandoning a vehicle. Local authorities will be able to retain the revenue from the receipts of these penalties.
	The Bill will also allow local authorities greater flexibility to dispose of abandoned vehicles immediately avoiding further storage costs.
	The ability of local authorities to recover costs from the last registered keeper is dependant on the accuracy of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's (DVLA) database. The introduction of Continuous Registration has seen significant increases in disposal notices, Statutory Off Road Notifications and vehicle licensing. The DVLA is targeted with ensuring its vehicle record is 97.5 per cent. accurate or better by July 2005.

Dairy Industry

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the balance of trade in each dairy product for which figures are available by (a) quantity and (b) value has been in each year since 1995.

Alun Michael: The following table provides details of the imports, exports and balance of trade for dairy products by quantity (thousands and tonnes) and value (£ million) for the period 1995 to 2003.
	
		Quantity thousand tonnes
		
			  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Liquid milk:  
			 Imports 178 117 154 193 138 126 93 49 38 
			 Exports 161 47 88 160 209 160 65 69 198 
			 Balance -17 -70 -66 -33 71 34 -28 20 160 
			   
			 Butter:  
			 Imports 114 114 111 105 114 118 115 116 118 
			 Exports 54 51 74 65 56 45 41 39 44 
			 Balance -60 -63 -37 -40 -58 -73 -74 -77 -74 
			   
			 Cream:  
			 Imports 4 5 11 11 8 10 18 15 15 
			 Exports 79 95 92 101 96 82 85 91 114 
			 Balance 75 90 81 90 88 72 67 76 99 
			   
			 Whole milk powder:  
			 Imports 8 10 10 10 10 11 8 9 13 
			 Exports 76 75 106 106 92 102 86 102 117 
			 Balance 68 65 96 96 82 91 78 93 104 
			   
			 Skimmed milk powder:
			 Imports 14 13 13 11 14 13 23 17 32 
			 Exports 57 20 45 34 60 112 30 29 56 
			 Balance 43 7 32 23 46 99 7 12 24 
			   
			 Condensed milk:  
			 Imports 13 10 13 13 14 15 14 12 20 
			 Exports 65 58 63 64 51 31 22 30 21 
			 Balance 52 48 50 51 37 16 8 18 1 
			 Cheese:  
			 Imports 213 239 240 257 277 255 275 285 316 
			 Exports 56 59 53 55 62 58 68 83 90 
			 Balance -157 -180 -187 -202 -215 -197 -207 -202 -226 
			   
			 Yoghurt:  
			 Imports 56 54 71 82 69 132 148 142 193 
			 Exports 4 5 6 7 3 6 9 9 10 
			 Balance -52 -49 -65 -75 -66 -126 -139 -133 -183 
			   
			 Ice cream:  
			 Imports 32 33 45 54 58 63 64 76 77 
			 Exports 31 27 28 32 40 42 35 37 41 
			 Balance -1 -6 -17 -22 -18 -21 -29 -39 -36 
			   
			 Other dairy products:
			 Imports 72 68 43 46 50 50 57 56 84 
			 Exports 89 43 38 53 36 45 52 64 54 
			 Balance 17 -25 -5 7 -14 -5 -5 8 -30 
			   
			 Total quantity:  
			 Imports 672 663 711 782 752 793 815 777 906 
			 Exports 641 480 593 677 705 683 493 553 745 
			 Balance -31 -183 -118 -105 -47 -110 -322 -224 -161 
		
	
	
		Value £ million
		
			  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Liquid milk:  
			 Imports 60 41 47 46 34 29 26 16 14 
			 Exports 43 17 22 34 47 36 20 21 48 
			 Balance -17 -24 -25 -12 13 7 -6 5 34 
			   
			 Butter:  
			 Imports 242 232 216 211 230 235 245 254 281 
			 Exports 142 129 144 126 105 83 80 71 75 
			 Balance -100 -103 -72 -85 -125 -152 -165 -183 -206 
			   
			 Cream:  
			 Imports 7 9 14 14 13 13 15 15 16 
			 Exports 113 123 103 109 92 82 83 89 120 
			 Balance 106 114 89 95 79 69 68 74 104 
			   
			 Whole milk powder:  
			 Imports 16 20 17 15 13 16 13 11 17 
			 Exports 134 127 155 152 115 123 117 106 147 
			 Balance 118 107 138 137 102 107 104 95 130 
			   
			 Skimmed milk powder:
			 Imports 23 23 21 18 25 22 26 20 28 
			 Exports 100 34 56 41 53 64 31 34 65 
			 Balance 77 11 35 23 28 42 5 14 37 
			   
			 Condensed milk:  
			 Imports 18 11 12 12 12 16 16 11 18 
			 Exports 42 39 42 41 32 22 16 17 15 
			 Balance 24 28 30 29 20 6 1 6 -3 
			   
			 Cheese:  
			 Imports 553 621 590 611 630 601 655 647 744 
			 Exports 144 153 122 126 137 130 148 153 180 
			 Balance -409 -468 -468 -485 -493 -471 -507 -494 -564 
			   
			 Yoghurt:  
			 Imports 57 59 63 61 56 68 75 103 138 
			 Exports 6 6 8 8 5 6 12 13 15 
			 Balance -51 -53 -55 -53 -51 -62 -63 -90 -123 
			 Ice cream:  
			 Imports 70 65 80 90 102 106 112 129 130 
			 Exports 45 49 47 49 55 58 46 52 48 
			 Balance -25 -16 -33 -41 -47 -48 -66 -77 -82 
			   
			 Other dairy products:
			 Imports 103 48 67 79 88 88 112 130 150 
			 Exports 72 27 21 26 24 30 36 32 18 
			 Balance -31 -21 -46 -53 -64 -58 -76 -98 -132 
			   
			 Total value:  
			 Imports 1,079 1,113 1,094 1,116 1,156 1,146 1,228 1,259 1,454 
			 Exports 796 704 720 712 665 634 589 588 731 
			 Balance -283 -409 -374 -404 -491 -512 -639 -671 -723

Dairy Industry

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) dairy farms and (b) milk cows there have been in England in each year since 1995.

Alun Michael: The table shows the number of holdings in England whose predominant business is dairy and total dairy cows, including animals on holdings where dairy is not the predominant activity.
	
		
			  Number of Dairy Type Holdings Dairy Cows 
		
		
			 1995 19,632 1,809,282 
			 1996 18,904 1,783,327 
			 1997 18,007 1,700,250 
			 1998 17,014 1,642,636 
			 1999 16,313 1,659,210 
			 2000 15,219 1,575,320 
			 2001 14,106 1,490,226 
			 2002 14,342 1,462,155 
			 2003 13,556 1,434,727 
		
	
	Note:
	(a) Figures prior to 2000 are for main holdings only, 2000 onwards include main and minor holdings.
	(b) Predominant dairy holdings are those whose main income is derived from dairy.
	Source:
	June Agricultural Census

Dairy Industry

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the UK's dairy industry is reliant upon imports.

Alun Michael: The UK is almost entirely self-sufficient in raw milk. None of the UK's processing companies are reliant on imported milk. Imports tend to be of finished products like butter and cheese.

Disabilities

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many of the staff employed by her Department have a declared disability.

Alun Michael: The Cabinet Office collects and publishes annually statistical information on the civil service by Department. These include data on the number of staff who have a declared disability.
	The latest available information at April 2004 is available in the Library and on the civil service website at: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management information/statistical information/statistics/publications/xls/disability apr04 4nov04.xls

Exercise Hornbeam

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of Exercise Hornbeam on foot and mouth control measures; and what plans she has to respond to the Royal Society's update report on those measures.

Ben Bradshaw: Exercise Hornbeam confirmed that the Government's contingency plan for another foot and mouth disease outbreak is robust and that considerable progress has been made in emergency preparedness since 2001. The contingency plan ensures that the Government will be able to mount a more rapid, efficient and co-ordinated response to an outbreak by working closely with operational partners such as local authorities and the police.
	All exercises identify issues that need clarifying and addressing and Exercise Hornbeam was no exception. The Government are not complacent and the exercise has helped to identify the areas where we need to focus efforts further to improve procedures and to fine tune policies and strategies for all stages of an outbreak.
	Defra will be providing a detailed response to the Royal Society Infectious Diseases in Livestock Follow-Up Review later this month.

Fisheries

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will (a) urge the European Commission to reduce catches permitted to EU fleets fishing in African national waters to levels which do not undermine sustainable fishing for the local fishermen and (b) request an independent study of the effect of EU fishing on the local fishermen, catches, employment and diet in the states which are leased for fishing rights by the EU.

Ben Bradshaw: The UK consistently argues that fishing opportunities granted to the community fleet in the waters of third countries be set at sustainable levels and are coherent with development policy.
	The council conclusions on third country partnership agreements, adopted in July 2004, require the status of fish stocks to be assessed before fisheries agreements are concluded or renewed. They also specify that the coastal state's priorities be taken into account as part of this assessment, in the context of development co-operation and scientific and technical co-operation.

Imported Meat

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the risks of importing disease via illegally imported meat.

Ben Bradshaw: Illegally imported meat has not been subject to the normal food safety checks associated with legally imported meat. Thus there is a risk that it may contain human pathogens, including pathogens not normally found in the UK. On 19 July, Defra published the updated report on the risk assessment undertaken by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) (the original was published on 6 March 2003). Copies of both reports have been placed in House Libraries.

Imported Meat

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether seized meat imports are tested for disease.

Ben Bradshaw: No. Illegal imports of meat are normally destroyed without undue delay, though if the seizure was made solely because the importer failed to comply with the pre-notification requirements of Products of Animal Origin Regulations 2004, Customs may agree, after consultation with Port Health Authorities, to the product being re-exported.
	The Government have considered the feasibility of testing samples taken from seized illegally imported products of animal origin for a range of animal diseases. It concluded that the endemic nature of these diseases in many countries around the world results in a low but continuous risk of infected meat reaching the country through illegal routes. This means that all such seizures are treated as a potential animal and human health risk and destroyed, as soon as possible, by incineration. The risk of disease relates to the possibility that infectious material in illegal imports may be consumed by animals. Very small amounts of infectious material may cause disease and are likely to be only a small proportion of any illegal imports. There is thus very little chance of finding infected material by testing samples. Similar considerations apply with regard to the testing of samples for human pathogens.

Invoice Payments

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average length of time was between the date of invoices issued to her Department from a supplier and payment by the Department of the invoice in the last 12 months for which figures are available; what percentage of these invoices were paid within 30 days of the date of issue of the invoice; what percentage of these invoices remained unpaid after 90 days; and if she will make a statement on the Department's policy on the payment of invoices issued to it.

Alun Michael: Defra's standard contractual payment terms are for goods and services payments to be made within 30 days of receipt of either goods or services, or a valid invoice, whichever is the later.
	For the period 01 April 2003—31 March 2004 the total number of payments made was 104,185. Of this the number of payments paid by the due date was 97,164. The percentage of those invoices paid within 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice was 93.26 per cent. The percentage of those invoices that remained unpaid after 90 days is 0.69 per cent.

Parliamentary Questions

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what target her Department sets for the maximum acceptable time to respond in full to a parliamentary question; and what percentage of answers given by her Department failed to meet this target in each parliamentary Session from 1997–98 to 2003–04.

Alun Michael: Defra was created in June 2001 and inherited a poor performance culture in terms of responses to both parliamentary questions and correspondence.
	In the parliamentary Session 2003–04, we answered 67.7 per cent. of our ordinary written PQs within five working days, and answered 17.2 per cent. of named day PQs on time. Records for earlier parliamentary Sessions were not maintained in such a way to enable the Department to extract the information requested without incurring disproportionate costs.
	We aim to give Members a substantive response to any named day question on the named day and to answer ordinary written questions within a working week of them being tabled. This is not always possible, but Ministers are keen to hold the Department to these levels of performance in general.

Right to Roam

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many successful appeals there have been against the preliminary mapping of areas for access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: The Planning Inspectorate in England had issued 2,442 mapping appeal decisions as of 11 January 2005. The appellant was successful either in full or in part in 1,765 of these appeals.

Scrapie

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on latest research on scrapie and possible links to BSE in sheep.

Ben Bradshaw: Research in recent years has shown that most PrP genotypes of sheep can be experimentally infected with BSE when they are directly challenged in the brain. The results from experimental challenges of similar sheep with large doses of BSE orally indicate that the PrP genotypes that show resistance to scrapie are also resistant to BSE.
	Scrapie surveillance using EU recommended tests in UK slaughter sheep and fallen stock have not shown evidence of BSE. These tests have identified forms of scrapie that were not previously recognised in a small number of sheep. Further work is being done on these newly identified forms, and the evidence to date indicates that they do not have the same signature as BSE.

Single Farm Payments

David Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the effect of proposals for single farm payments on future land use.

Alun Michael: The Department has published an assessment of the economic impact in England of the single payment scheme. In addition, the Environment Agency has published projections of land use to 2015.

Sustainable Energy

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the Department for Transport on promoting sustainable energy sources.

Elliot Morley: The Department has had a number of discussions recently with the Department for Transport, both at Ministerial and official level, about promoting sustainable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, discussions are taking place about the feasibility of a renewable transport fuel obligation.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Hyponatraemia-related Deaths

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which individuals have been appointed to the Hyponatraemia-related Deaths Inquiry Team; who appointed each one; what the employment is of each; and what the immediate past posts of each member were.

Angela Smith: I appointed John O'Hara QC as Chairman of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths. The subsequent appointment of staff and their particular roles are matters for Mr. O'Hara.
	As is normal practice, to assist him with the administration of the inquiry, the Department offered a number of civil servants to undertake administrative and clerical duties. Previously the secretary and deputy secretary to the inquiry were employed respectively as the manager of the office of the permanent secretary and the departmental private secretary to the Minister. Of the remainder, one came from the occupational health service; one from the Northern Ireland Assembly; one from the departmental typing pool; and one has returned from a career break. It is understood that Mr. O'Hara is also engaging a barrister, a solicitor and some professional experts in the fields of paediatrics, paediatric anaesthetics, nursing and healthcare management.

Hyponatraemia-related Deaths

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the explanation of the Chief Medical Officer of Northern Ireland to the parents of Lucy Crawford regarding their daughter's death.

Angela Smith: It would be inappropriate for me to comment on any matter relating to the death of Lucy Crawford. John O'Hara QC, as Chairman of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related deaths, has been tasked to examine and report on all matters he considers relevant to the death of Lucy Crawford and also of Raychel Ferguson and Adam Strain.

Departmental Expenditure

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent by his Department on (a) indoor bought plants, (b) indoor hired plants, (c) outdoor bought plants and (d) outdoor hired plants in each year since 1997.

Ian Pearson: There was no expenditure by the Northern Ireland Office on the purchase or hire of plants prior to 2001.
	In 2001 the Department assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the grounds at Hillsborough Castle.
	The total amount spent by the Northern Ireland Office on the purchase and hire of indoor and outdoor plants for each calendar since 2001 is detailed.
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2001 6,246.23 
			 2002 13,704.00 
			 2003 4,376.62 
		
	
	It was not possible to extract from our records which plants were intended for indoor use and which for outdoor. Nor was it possible to separate expenditure between buying or hiring plants.
	This answer relates only to the Northern Ireland Office and does not include information in respect of the eleven departments of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Departmental Expenditure

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the Department spent on first class travel in each year since 1997.

Ian Pearson: The total amount the Northern Ireland Office has spent on first class travel in each year since 1997 is listed in the table.
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1997–98 6,404.00 
			 1989–99 11,423.50 
			 1999–2000 29,978.40 
			 2000–01 16,115.10 
			 2001–02 16,879.20 
			 2002–03 0.00 
			 2003–04 60,614.40 
		
	
	This answer relates to the Northern Ireland Office and does not include information in respect of the eleven departments of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Disabled Children

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on inspection of services for disabled children in the community.

Angela Smith: The inspection of services for disabled children in hospital has been completed and the overview report is due to be published in early March 2005. This will be followed by a dissemination period to allow time for Boards and Trusts to implement the recommendations of the report.
	The inspection of services for disabled children in the community has been deferred.

Forestry

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made towards a forestry strategy for Northern Ireland.

Ian Pearson: In December 2004 the Forest Service published a consultation paper "Options for Forestry". This paper contains proposals formulated as a result of an earlier round of consultation, a full economic appraisal and several public surveys. The consultation period closes on 31 March this year.

Primary Schools

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the reasons for differences in figures for post-primary school enrolments between those issued in a recent statistical press release from the Department for Education in Northern Ireland and those predicted by the Post Primary Review Working Party Report; if he will publish the figures for post-primary school enrolments issued from these sources for each year from 2002–03 to 2004–05; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: The number of children entering post primary education in Northern Ireland continues to fall in line with the falling numbers in primary schools. Neither the base line nor the projected figures for post primary enrolment used in the Costello report included those pupils enrolled in special education units attached to mainstream schools. When these pupils are factored in, the difference between projected and actual school population figures amounts to 0.6 per cent. or 966 pupils for the current school year.
	This difference is due to an increase in the number of young people staying on in the sixth form, where 26,321 were enrolled in 2004–05 against the 25,332 projected. As such, this may indicate the success of Government policies such as the education maintenance allowance to encourage young people to stay in school beyond the compulsory school age.
	The numbers of pupils enrolled in post-primary schools in the period 2002–03 to 2004–05 (actual and projected) are as follows:
	
		
			  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Actual enrolments published in statistical press releases 155,747 155,394 153,455 
			 Of which:
			 Special units 839 870 860 
			 Excluding special units 154,908 154,524 152,595 
			 
			 Projected enrolments published in Costello Report 154,908 154,094 151,629 
		
	
	This decline in post-primary numbers is expected to continue as the declining primary school population transfers into post-primary schools:
	
		Year 1 to year 7 enrolments(primary schools and prep. departments)
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1996–97 184,638 
			 1997–98 182,261 
			 1998–99 179,033 
			 1999–2000 175,602 
			 2000–01 172,491 
			 2001–02 170,553 
			 2002–03 167,799 
			 2003–04 165,347 
			 2004–05 163,186

Primary Schools

Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he intends to require provision for a (a) school library room, (b) computer room and (c) special needs room to be included in the Primary School Building Handbook.

Barry Gardiner: The Department hopes to publish revisions to the Handbooks for Nursery and Primary Schools in 2005 and consideration of provision for school libraries, computer and special needs rooms will be taken into account as part of the review process.

Provisional IRA (Army Council)

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether members of the Army Council of the Provisional IRA have immunity from investigation by the (a) Police Service of Northern Ireland and (b) Assets Recovery Agency.

Ian Pearson: No.

Psychiatric Wards (Young People)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) admissions and (b) bed days resulting from admissions of young people under the age of 18 years who were admitted to adult psychiatry wards there have been in the Province in each of the last five years.

Angela Smith: The number of (a) admissions and (b) bed days resulting from those admissions of young people under the age of 18 years who were admitted to adult psychiatric wards in the Province in each of the last five years is detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  (a) Admissions (b) Number of bed days 
		
		
			 2003–04 173 5,062 
			 2002–03 194 5,401 
			 2001–02 183 6,346 
			 2000–01 198 6,551 
			 1999–2000 196 7,522 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures relate to financial years except for one trust who provided figures for calendar years and for 2004 to 30 November.
	2. If a patient was admitted in one year and their episode carried into the next year the number of bed days are attributed to the year in which the admission took place and the admission is only counted once in the year it occurred.
	3. If a patient is admitted when aged less than 18 years and the patient turns 18 years of age during their episode, bed days after the patient turns 18 years of age are included in total length of stay.
	4. Where possible the number of bed days was calculated excluding days on leave, but one trust was unable to exclude days on leave from its figures.
	5. Figures include patients admitted to psychiatric wards in Muckamore Abbey hospital, which normally caters for learning-disabled patients.
	Source:
	HSS trusts

Radon Gas

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the health dangers in the Province from radon gas.

Angela Smith: The Environment and Heritage Service published a report in May 1999 showing the levels of radon gas in private dwellings throughout Northern Ireland. The report, based on some 16,000 measurements in private dwellings, includes maps showing the percentage of houses likely to exceed the action level throughout Northern Ireland.
	At high concentrations, radon leads to an increased risk of lung cancer and it is estimated that radon could account for about 60 of the 800 or so lung cancer deaths per year in Northern Ireland. The average level of radon in private dwellings in Northern Ireland is similar to the rest of the UK although there are areas in the west and south-east of the Province where radon risk is elevated and it is estimated that 4,000 homes in Northern Ireland are likely to exceed the action level.
	The Environment and Heritage Service has already offered free tests to all householders living in the high-risk areas. The radon risk map and radon leaflets can be accessed on the Environment and Heritage Service's website, www.ehsni.gov.uk.

Rural Development Council

Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  what (a) criteria and (b) procedures are used by the Rural Development Council to assess an application for grant;
	(2)  what grants have been received from the Rural Development Council in each Northern Ireland constituency since it's formation; and for what projects;
	(3)  how many applications for grants were received by the Rural Development Council in each of the last three years;
	(4)  what the average length of time taken by the Rural Development Council to respond to a grant application was in the last 12 months;
	(5)  what projects have been supported by the Rural Development Council aimed at (a) supporting farmers or farm families and (b) promoting alternative skills training in East Antrim in (i) Newtownabbey, (ii) Carrickfergus and (iii) Larne borough council areas in each of the last three years; and how much grant was awarded in each case.

Ian Pearson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Rural Development Council to write to the hon. Gentleman on these matters.
	Letter from Martin McDonald to Ald. Roy Beggs, dated 20 December 2004
	The Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (DARD) has forwarded the Rural Development Council a number of Parliamentary Questions, which you have recently tabled. I wish to respond to each of the questions as follows:
	Mr Roy Beggs (East Antrim): To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what (a) criteria and (b) procedures are used by the Rural Development Council to assess an application for grant.
	As you are aware the RDC operates an open and competitive application process, where applications are assessed against a scoring framework considering the applicant, area and project.
	Upon receipt, the application is scored against eligibility criteria. Where an application has been deemed eligible it will be assessed against a scoring framework to identify those projects most appropriate for receipt of funding. (A full copy of the procedure and criteria are enclosed for your information).
	Mr Roy Beggs (East Antrim): To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what grants have been received from the Rural Development Council in each Northern Ireland constituency since the formation of the RDC; and for what projects. 204334
	The following table presents approved applications under the current EU Strategy Period 2001–2006:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 North Antrim 18 
			 Newry and Mourne 25 
			 South Down 8 
			 Strangford 4 
			 Fermanagh and South Tyrone 63 
			 Foyle 14 
			 Mid Ulster 35 
			 East Londonderry 7 
			 West Tyrone 25 
			 Upper Bann 4 
			 Lagan Valley 3 
			 East Antrim 1 
			 South Antrim 2 
			 Belfast North 2 
			 Belfast South 1 
		
	
	Mr Roy Beggs (East Antrim): To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many applications for grants were received by the Rural Development Council in each of the last three years. 204335
	The following table presents total applications received by RDC in the last 3 years:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 2001 3 
			 2002 379 
			 2003 82 
			 2004 186 
		
	
	Mr Roy Beggs (East Antrim): To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the average length of time taken by the Rural Development Council to respond to a grant application was in the last 12 months. 204336
	The RDC invited and assessed applications under two specific Measures during 2004.
	The following provides a time-line against the measures:
	
		BSP Measure 4.10
		
			  Date 
		
		
			 Receipt of Applications 31 March 2004 
			 Assessment Panel 23 September 2004 
			 Letters to Applicants 5 October 2004 
		
	
	
		BSP Measure 4.9
		
			  Date 
		
		
			 Receipt of Applications 31 March 2004 
			 Assessment Panel 17 November 2004 
			 Letters to Applicants 24 November 2004 
		
	
	The average time taken to get through the assessment process was around 8 months in 2004. During this period 71 applications were received with 20 approved and 51 refused. £6,810,630.00 funds were bid for against an available budget of £1,980,000. The assessment procedures applied by RDC (attached to this response) are designed to facilitate a rigorous scrutiny of applications from community and voluntary sector applicants.
	The process may or may not involve external economic appraisal by independent consultants as well as initial eligibility testing, needs assessment, options appraisal, budget challenge and advice from key local informants. For many applicants there is also a need to identify matching funds before a decision can be given. Some applications do of course reach a conclusion more quickly than others but given the competitive nature of the process all applications are considered at the same time at a meeting of the RDC assessment Panel.
	Mr Roy Beggs (East Antrim): To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what projects have been supported by the Rural Development Council aimed at supporting farmers or farm families and promoting alternative skills training in East Antrim in (a) Newtownabbey, (b) Carrickfergus and (c) Lame borough council areas in each of the last three years; and how much grant was awarded in each case. 204337
	The RDC has not funded any projects in the East Antrim, Newtownabbey or Carrickfergus areas aimed at supporting farmers or farm families and promoting alternative skills training.
	Should you require clarification to any of the above please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Student Statistics

Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many full-time education students were at universities and colleges in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years.

Barry Gardiner: The number of full-time enrolments at universities and colleges in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years is as follows:
	
		Full-time enrolments at higher and further education institutions in Northern Ireland: 1993–94 to 2003–04
		
			 Sector HE institutions FE institutions Total 
		
		
			 1993–94 24,075 23,125 47,200 
			 1994–95 24,873 23,675 48,548 
			 1995–96 26,017 23,934 49,951 
			 1996–97 26,089 25,033 51,122 
			 1997–98 28,535 24,968 53,503 
			 1998–99 28,316 23,854 52,170 
			 1999–2000 28,282 24,128 52,410 
			 2000–01 30,666 24,542 55,208 
			 2001–02 31,642 25,163 56,805 
			 2002–03 33,989 24,826 58,815 
		
	
	Source:
	Compendium of NI Education Statistics.
	Weblink: http://www.deni.gov.uk/facts_figures/documents/Compendium_04.pdf

Taskforces

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by his Department in each year since 1997 on taskforces and similar bodies.

Paul Murphy: Detailed in the table is how much the Northern Ireland Office spent on some of the major taskforces and similar bodies for which we can provide the information requested in each year since 1997.
	
		£
		
			  1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Organised Crime Task force (NI) 110,165 196,354 244,753 178,677 
			 Independent Commission on Policing for NI (Patten) — — 102,776 536,549 
			 Review of Parades Commission 47,068 29,481 126,740 5,494 
			 Review of Criminal Injuries Compensation in NI — 30,706 196,912 79,045 
			 NI Victims Commission 12,249 633,483 — — 
			 Alternative to the Baton Round Steering Group — — — — 
			 Review of NI Drugs Strategy — 51,944 13,646 —- 
			 Criminal Justice Review — 390,259 761,096 496,780 
			 Total 169,482 1,332,227 1,445,923 1,296,545 
		
	
	
		£
		
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05(8) 
		
		
			 Organised Crime Task force (NI) 460,451 302,161 363,822 136,326 
			 Independent Commission on Policing for NI (Patten) 521,044 605,611 618,160 388,619 
			 Review of Parades Commission 49,111 125,896 8,482 973 
			 Review of Criminal Injuries Compensation in NI 86,234 27,160 — — 
			 NI Victims Commission — — — — 
			 Alternative to the Baton Round Steering Group — 801,873 806,367 157,342 
			 Review of NI Drugs Strategy — — — — 
			 Criminal Justice Review — — — — 
			 Total 1,116,840 1,862,701 1,796,831 683,260 
		
	
	(8) Up to December 2004.
	Following is a list of other taskforce groups and similar bodies for which the figures are not easily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Diplock Review Group
	Vulnerable/Intimidated Witness (NI) Working Group
	Sex Offenders Working Group
	Restorative Justice Steering Group
	Review of Probation Officer Qualification Route
	Review of Pre Sentence Reports
	After Care Working Group
	Strategic Working Group Juvenile Justice
	Forensic Science Steering Group.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 his special advisers travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost.

Ian Pearson: During the period 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 Northern Ireland Office special advisers travelled abroad on two occasions. One trip was to Dublin costing £203.50 and the other to the United States of America, costing a total of £4,560.80.
	The expenditure referred to does not include the cost of hotel accommodation and other associated expenses as it is not possible to isolate those figures which relate solely to special advisers from other costs.

Stolen Property

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the property belonging to his Department that has (a) been stolen and (b) been reported lost in each year since 1997, broken down by type of article.

Paul Murphy: There has only been one item of property belonging to the Northern Ireland Office that has been stolen since 1997. In the 2002–03 financial year a handheld PC, valued at £350, was stolen from the luggage hold of a plane during a flight from London to Belfast.